Passionate Apathy
by mysticexarch
Summary: Years after the end of the series, a depressed Sakura goes looking for Sasuke. She manages to find him, but quickly finds herself caught up in his trouble. (My interpretation of how they ended up together between Naruto and Boruto). Based on the anime. Sakura x Sasuke. M for graphic violence, language, and sexuality. "Redeems" Sasuke. Sakura and Sasuke alternating POV.
1. Chapter 1

A seemingly endless sea of emerald foliage rushed passed Sakura Haruno, appearing as a formless blur to the kunoichi. She occasionally paid attention to her ever-changing surroundings just long enough to scan for potential ambushes and listen for the telltale sound of approaching enemies before refocusing on the task ahead.

Now was not the time for sightseeing. Sakura had a mission, and she was committed to it.

 _Well, not in a formal sense,_ the medic-nin thought to herself.

Indeed, her purpose in speeding through the treetops of a remote wilderness was not an official shinobi mission for the Hidden Leaf village, a fact which accounted for both the absence of an accompanying squad and her reckless speed. Rather, Sakura was pursuing a goal of more personal nature.

Sasuke.

It had been several long years since she had seen the last remaining Uchiha at the gates of Konoha. He had been preparing to leave for a mysterious, personal mission of "redemption", and had left without even saying a proper goodbye. The only pleasant memory of him that Sakura possessed since she had been a genin was nothing more than a light, unsatisfying touch on the forehead.

Over the next few insufferable years, the absence of something more substantial had fostered a deep ache in the young woman's heart. The affliction had recently become so severe that Sakura had barely been able to properly perform her shinobi duties: healing those in need, helping to train new genin, and supporting the village through contracted ninja work. This fact had not gone unnoticed by her mentor, Tsunade.

"It's him, isn't it?" the fifth Hokage had suddenly asked her one afternoon when the two were enjoying a quiet lunch together.

Sakura remembered her mouth moving, but not being able to make words come out. Instead, she'd opted to stare down at her bento box and try (unsuccessfully) to ward away the feeling of emptiness.

"You don't have to answer," her blonde tutor had replied.

After that, the subject had gone unmentioned for weeks. Tsunade had clearly expected her pupil to work out her emotions on her own with the space provided. However, as Sakura's condition had continually worsened, Tsunade had decided it was time to intervene.

"You're barely eating, and I can tell you don't get much sleep, either," Tsunade eventually scolded her. "You barely talk to anyone, you nearly lost a patient, and we haven't trained together in months."

Sakura had looked down, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Lord Fifth."

What had ensued was a very long, difficult, and drawn out conversation. Tsunade had attempted to persuade Sakura to cast aside her feelings for the rouge ninja, but it had been a half-hearted attempt. At the end of the day, Tsunade wanted Sakura to be happy, and recognized that Sasuke was apparently a critical component of that. After all, she had been in love too, once.

"I think you need a vacation," Tsunade had eventually remarked while handing Sakura a sealed envelope. "I hear there's this great resort in the middle of nowhere. You should check it out sometime. In any case, I hereby suspend you from all active duties until your condition improves."

"Sure. Thank you. I'll think about it," Sakura had curtly replied after accepting the envelope, but before slinking dejectedly away.

That night, a sleepless Sakura had opened the sealed container out of sheer boredom. What she'd found had nearly stopped her heart.

Classified intelligence reports detailing the last known sighting of Sasuke Uchiha.

The report was three days old.

Sakura had left within an hour.

That had been two days before her current journey through the wilderness, most of which time she had spent awake, relying on food pills and her monstrous chakra control to travel far faster than any ordinary shinobi. Still, it had been a lot of ground to cover, and supernatural tricks could only take one so far. Sooner or later, Sakura knew she would have to stop and rest, even though doing so might cause her to lose Sasuke forever.

The pink-haired ninja grit her teeth. _I can't waste this chance,_ she reminded herself. _I must find him._

Luckily, the evidence indicated that Sasuke was very close by. Her medical ninjutsu allowed her to identify the owners of blood or other biological components if she had a baseline comparison. Stealing an old sample of Sasuke's blood from the hospital where she worked had been all too easy.

What wasn't easy was following the trail of blood. Sakura had found several small splatters at the edge of an abandoned forest camp. One donor was definitely Sasuke, along with four or more unknown individuals. The trail led into the woods but had grown faint. Sakura reasoned that her quarry must have fled into the forest to hide and lick his wounds. She was sure that if she patrolled the region in concentric, slowly-restricting circles, she would eventually find some further sign of his location.

Knowing that Sasuke was, in a likelihood, very close to her was as exhilarating as it was terrifying. What would she even say to him after all this time? Would he event want her around? What if he had become a criminal again?

And most importantly, what if he was in trouble? What if Sasuke needed her, but she couldn't get to him fast enough? The thought of someone being able to kill the already legendary Uchiha was dubious at best, but Sakura did not doubt it was possible.

Fortunately, Sakura didn't have much time to ruminate on the maelstrom of conflicting emotions in her rapidly-beating heart. A slight rustle in the canopy of leaves ahead signaled the presence of another person.

The kunoichi slowed her blinding pace, coming abruptly to halt on a thick branch. A kunai knife was in each hand instantly, her pose readied for battle.

Perhaps it was her exhausted mind and body, or perhaps it was simply the speed of her adversary, but before Sakura could even blink, a katana was pressed to her throat from behind.

"Who are you?" an emotionless male voice demanded.

Sakura didn't need to turn around to know who it's owner was. Hell, his delicious scent, the one she could never forget, would have been a dead giveaway.

"Sasuke, it's me…" Sakura whispered, barely able to believe what was happening. Not just that she'd actually found him, but that Sasuke would do this to her. Didn't he recognize her anymore? Had he really thought of her so infrequently (if at all) during the past few years?

A pause.

Sakura gulped. She wasn't sure whether to be excited or afraid.

The blade was removed from her neck, and a slight rustle signaled that Sasuke had stepped away from her. Sakura wheeled around, eager to face the man she loved but had not seen in such a long time.

Sasuke already had his back to Sakura and was preparing to leap away. From what little she could see, he was wearing a loose, dark cloak that encircled his whole body.

He spared a lazy backward glance at her, revealing one shadowed pupil, as well as another eye that was completely covered by thick locks of ebony hair.

"Leave me alone," Sasuke commanded harshly.

Sakura was dumbstruck.

When she had absorbed the statement, a different emotion sprung up within her: white-hot rage. She clenched her fists tightly.

"You haven't seen me in years, and that's all you can say?" she complained loudly, gesticulating madly at him.

"Yes, that's right," Sasuke deadpanned as he scanned her from head to toe. "Go. It's not safe."

Sakura ignored him. "Do you know what I went through to get here? To find you? Do you understand the risks I took?"

Sasuke sighed and glanced around, agitation marking his body language. "It doesn't matter."

"Hell, do you even understand what I've been going through since you left? Or do you just not care?" she went on, all of the resentment and hurt exploding out of her in a toxic tirade.

"SAKURA! Stop. This isn't a fucking joke," Sasuke barked. He shot her an evil glare. "Go away before I make you."

Sakura stared long and hard across the tree branch at the rogue shinobi in front of her. She wondered if she should try to hit him.

Before Sakura could decide on anything, Sasuke twitched.

"They're here."

Several _whoosh_ noises could be heard as black shadows blurred all around the pair, then coalesced into the forms of other shinobi. There were four of them, arrayed in a square formation around her and Sasuke.

"Look what we have here," one of them spoke. He was a burly, middle-aged man who wore the attire and headband of the village hidden in the stone. "Sasuke's got himself a girlfriend."

Sasuke's eyes darted back and forth, sizing up the other ninjas. If he was worried, he didn't show it.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I am not Sasuke Uchiha," he replied evenly.

Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion, opting to stay quiet until she could figure out what the hell was happening. Her reckoning with Sasuke would have to come later.

"Just admit it and let us see those lovely eyes of yours," another shinobi hissed from their position standing horizontally against the side of a nearby tree.

The voice and body were so androgynous that Sakura honestly didn't know which gender the person was. All she knew was that it was someone thin, wrapped in cloth from head to toe, and sporting a headband bearing the mark of the village hidden in the sand.

"It will go easier for you if you give in. There are four of us and only one of you," the mummy continued.

Sakura shot them an angry glare, then glanced briefly back at Sasuke. He didn't respond, just put one hand on the hilt of his sword.

"He's clearly not going to listen to reason," another ninja chimed in with a grumpy tone. He was a wrinkled, yet confidently-posed older man who had no ordinary ninja signifiers whatsoever.

Nodding solemnly at the sand mummy, he said: "But now we don't have to make him. He might get angry and release his full power if we kill the girl."

"I'm standing right here, you know," Sakura shot back coolly. "Come over here and I'll show you what this little girl can do."

"There's no need for that," Sasuke interjected, holding out an arm to block Sakura. He peered at her intently. "I've been trying to tell these gentleman that they must be confused. They think I'm the famous Sasuke, and they want his Uchiha visual prowess. I told them that my name is Akihiko, but they won't listen to me."

Sakura met his gaze, the cogwheels of her mind turning for an instant. She gave a slight dip of her head to show him that she understood.

"Is that what this is all about?" Sakura said in as friendly a voice as she could manage. She turned back to the assembled men. "That's ludicrous. We're just a couple of shinobi from different villages, meeting in this woods for…well, you know."

The sand mummy crossed their arms in disbelief. The old man shook his head, and the first one to speak—the stone ninja, chuckled.

"Is that so?" he shot back. "Well then, you should be able to tell us what village you friend _Akihiko_ is from, shouldn't you?"

Sasuke winced, and Sakura knew that he was mentally kicking himself for not putting her under a Tsukuyomi earlier, or at least stating more about his false identity out loud. Not that either of those would have been likely too work, either. She could tell that whoever this motley mob was, they weren't stupid. If they'd been hounding Sasuke this relentlessly…enough for several skirmishes' worth of blood…and survived, let alone wounded him, they had to be tough, experienced, and smart. And, most importantly, they were convinced that they knew the truth.

Sakura didn't see how her present situation could possibly end without bloodshed, but she was impressed, and surprised, that Sasuke was trying to avoid that outcome at all costs. If he truly wished it, all his attackers would have likely been dead already.

Oh well. She may as well guess. There was at least a one in three chance of getting it right.

"Of course, I can. He's from the village hidden in the mist," Sakura reported.

A tense silence.

The brash stone shinobi clucked his teeth. "That's not what he told us," he grinned evilly. "Sasuke here said he was from the cloud; supposedly that's why he can use lightning style."

Sakura looked back at Sasuke, who wore an impassive look absent of any trace of disappointment. Even so, she felt horrible for letting him down by forcing a confrontation he clearly didn't want. (Not to mention the fact that she'd gotten him caught in the first place.)

"There's no use anymore, Mikoto. They're going to attack us, and I'm not going down easily," Sasuke told her sternly. "I'll have to show them I'm not Sasuke based on how I fight when two lives depend on it."

Sakura nodded, Sasuke's message clear: he wanted to keep the charade up for whatever reason. Although the prospect of risking death by holding back his best powers terrified her, Sakura was willing to go along with it.

The only problem was that Sasuke clearly wanted her to understand that she needed to make up for his deficiency, and in her current state of near-exhaustion from constant running, Sakura wasn't sure that she could.

 _It doesn't matter. I have to try,_ Sakura thought.

The kunoichi put her hands together and audibly cracked her fists. "Let's do this, then."

The scene instantly exploded in a cacophony of motion.

The first thing Sakura saw was the fourth person, an average-looking cloud ninja with long white hair, start weaving signs at incredible speed. As he completed the seal, the man shouted, "Lightning Style: Thunder Chorus Jutsu!" at the top of his lungs.

At the same moment, the old man also began to weave signs. He finished a moment later, with the proclamation of "Water Style: Torrential Downpour!"

The combination was devastating. The overcast sky above them, which Sakura had only just noticed, began to churn with an ominous, grayish hue. Static discharge crackled in its midst as heavy raindrops began to fall, soaking the whole canopy in moments.

"We have to get below!" Sasuke bellowed, already in motion. He threw a kunai as he fell, which Sakura could tell had wire attached to it. The stone ninja leaped aside, the blade sinking into a tree branch as intended. Sasuke used his fall and the cord to swing down to the forest floor and then under the enemy ninja.

Sakura was mere seconds behind him. She vanished in a blur, following the Uchiha. Before the maneuver was complete, she released a spray of smoke pellets in every direction—obscuring their movements.

As she left her previous perch, Sakura felt searing heat at her back and heard a deafening blast of thunder. A lightning bolt, enhanced by the conductive properties of the water and the storm that had been created, had apparently impacted the branch moments before she'd dodged. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, awestruck by this rag-tag band's teamwork.

She hit the ground next to Sasuke hard, but barely felt the impact. Adrenaline was coursing through her, and she was already alert and armed with kunai.

That's when the mummy appeared. They were sailing over the duo as if they'd anticipated she and Sasuke's evasive action, a steel rain of shuriken and kunai cascading down on them from above. The weapons were accompanied by little puffs of smoke that came from various summoning formula tattooed on the now-exposed sand ninja's arms.

Sasuke's katana flashed with blinding speed as he ducked, dodged, and twirled, effortlessly deflecting the hail of missiles. Sakura performed similarly well with her dual kunai. Thankfully, the canopy above offered them some resistance from the lightning storm and raindrops.

Sakura shot a look at Sasuke as they defended themselves. "Well?" she asked. "What's your plan?"

Sasuke didn't respond. He wore a blank look, and Sakura hoped he was simply concentrating on coming up with a plan before rushing to the offensive. A sound strategy: they were outnumbered, and likely out-prepared as well.

Sakura evaluated the situation as the mummy began to jump from perch to perch, attempting every angle from which to attack that they could think of.

Clearly, her foes had a specific strategy in mind: force the couple to the ground and away from the treetops. What was the reason for it, though? Why attack in a manner that was designed to give your opponent an out?

Sakura did not have to wait long for an answer. Shadows darted among the surrounding trees, all matching the outline of the brash stone ninja leader.

"Clones!" Sakura shouted as she fought to avoid being struck. "They're…"

"Earth Style: Granite Enclosure!" she heard numerous voices speak in unison, drowning out the noise of the storm, the shriek of metal-on-metal, and her own voice.

In accordance with the jutsu, the ground began to shake as earthen barriers sprung up all around her and Sasuke. Sakura could see dozens of clones with their arms extended, guiding the walls into place. She threw a few missiles at several of them, but the rock came up too fast, trapping she and Sasuke within a small ring.

"So that's why they wanted to get us down here," Sakura said out loud as she batted a kunai away.

Sasuke nodded, casually slicing an incoming shuriken in half.

"You do have a plan, right?" Sakura asked. As much as she hated to admit it, Sasuke had the leg up on her when it came to intellect. He was the smart fighter, the cunning adversary. She was more of a brawler or a healer.

"Don't die," Sasuke replied.

Sakura frowned, her inner self snarling.

That's when the iron barrage stopped, the mummy halting in a static position against a tree. At the same moment, the cloud ninja came into view slightly behind the sand ninja. His hands were clasped together in the shape of a sign, his head bowed in concentration. He was keeping the storm going. Meanwhile, old man grumps was dashing from spot to spot, placing paper bombs in various locations.

Sakura gasped. She knew what they were trying to do.

The medical nin didn't have time to voice the thought. The ground suddenly erupted in front of them, a duplicate of Mr. Rock-Clone exploding out from it. He pilfered a fallen kunai from the battlefield as he lunged at her throat with a crazed gleam in his eyes.

Sasuke didn't let him complete the attack. He was just _there,_ in-between her and the attacker, a stroke of his sword slicing cleanly through his opponent. It shrieked with the sound of chidori, lightning humming all around the weapon as the chakra countered and disintegrated the earth clone.

"Go!" Sasuke ordered, jerking his chin towards the canopy where the other three shinobi were. "Stop them."

"Hai!" Sakura agreed emphatically.

She leapt aside, avoiding another clone that appeared from the ground, then delivered a swift kick to it that slammed it violently into the rock wall. Then, without further ado, she kicked brutally off the forest floor, creating a crater that exposed and blew aside a third clone as she leaped diagonally into the air, heading for the concentrating cloud ninja and his guard.

"Oh no you don't, little girlie," the androgynous one chided, jumping horizontally at her as he slit his own palm with another summoned kunai. "Summoning Jutsu!"

Sakura frowned in consternation, instantly recognizing what that person was doing. The summoning formula on their palm flashed, and then, with a puff of smoke, the object Sakura had feared, but expected, was in front of her.

A puppet.

Sakura would have complained it was too soon if she ever saw another puppet again after fighting Sasori. The horrific things that she had been forced to experience during that battle haunted her nightmares…many times she had awoken to cold sweat and screams as images of herself impaled by the deviant Akatsuki member's poisoned weapons wracked her mind.

Even know, the woman feared she was too surprised and intimidated to react. Moreover, she was already in motion and could not stop. The puppet, which was shaped like an ugly human with eight arms and no legs, was flying in her direction…fast. Sakura did her best to swallow the instinctual fear, knowing that she had mere moments to assess the device and anticipate the secret attack. Chiyo had taught her as much…but Sakura knew that a large part of their victory had been owed to the older kunoichi's skill, and not her own.

"Shannaro!" she roared in defiance as her mind worked on overtime.

The puppet met her determination with an array of sharp steel knives that appeared from the palms of the eight hands. With a crooked jerk of the puppetmaster's hands, half of the appendages detached and moved to strike her.

Sakura worked her bare hands into a frenzy, trying her best to smash the arms to pieces. She managed to crush two of them, but the others carved into her body, thankfully missing vital organs. Sakura swallowed the pain and raised a fist to destroy the puppet's main body as it, too, closed in for the kill.

Knowing that she would be unable to fully counter the remaining arms, Sakura leaned into a punch of massive power, focusing a gratuitous amount of chakra into the leading fist and the rest into her skin to slow the penetration of the blades.

To her surprise, the flying puppet made absolutely no move to dodge. Sakura wasn't about to whine about such good fortune, though, even as the four arms, now separated from the torso, stabbed her in the same moment. As wood chips flew in every direction, she felt the blades sink halfway into her upper body: four spots of blindingly-agonizing pain. Her vision turned white and she screamed.

At that moment, Sakura was infinitely grateful for the fact she had been mentored by a sanin. Without the power of her healing abilities, she would most certainly be dead. One dagger had managed to nick her heart. A second buried itself in her spleen, a third in her stomach, and fourth in the liver. If she were any ordinary shinobi, she would surely have died in the next few moments.

A spray of blood shot out from her body, drenching the ground below. Sakura also felt crimson life-fluid spewing from her mouth and nose as well. She impacted a tree trunk on what she hoped was the other end of the clearing. Coughing, choking and convulsing, the pink-haired woman managed to yank the intruders out of her body and obliterate them with her strength. Then, in the next few seconds before she bled out, Sakura activated her one-hundred healings jutsu.

Energy coursed through her as the soothing power of the chakra stored in her forehead suffused her entire body, mending the fatal wounds in the blink of an eye. Sakura stood, shakily, as the dark lines of power traced themselves across her skin.

Her eyes flickered open, and she peered around with a smirk. She refused to give her enemies the satisfaction of a quick kill.

"Amazing," she heard the sand ninja say from the other side of the clearing. Chidori flashes accented his words as Sasuke furiously dueled a squad of earth clones below her that constantly emerged and re-emerged from the ground around him. Rubble scattered this way and that as he fought, slaying a few of them but also taking bloody grazes of his own. "I never thought I'd get to see the legendary healing power of the fifth Hokage. This bitch must be that slut's student."

The cloud ninja smiled but did not speak. He merely stood behind his protector with his eyes closed, focusing.

Sakura glanced around. The earth style-user was nowhere to be seen. Likely, the original was utterly depleted of chakra and intended to hide; not that she could blame him. He had used his chakra wisely, if not sparingly. Sasuke was trapped between a landscape which gave his enemy the advantage, even if he did have the perfect chakra nature to counter it. Alone, the strategy could not have worked…but with the puppet master's iron rain (and whatever else) above, with the impending lightning storm waiting to strike once the canopy was cleared, it was brutally efficient. Their enemies controlled every facet of the battlefield, and had even managed to sperate the two of them. She and Sasuke had played right into their hands.

Thunder sounded from above, as if her echoing her thoughts.

"It doesn't matter, though," the mummy went on. "I guess you didn't see the cloud of poison that came out when you smashed my puppet…too busy writing in beautiful agony."

Sakura's eyes went wide. Was this person telling her the truth? If so…

Instantly, her vision swam. Sakura's knees buckled, threatening to drop her to the ground below. Her limbs quivered, muscles spasming.

 _Antidote…I have…it might work…_ she thought, struggling to reach for the pouch on her hip.

"It's useless!" her enemy gloated from afar. "Even if your antivenom did work, _medic-nin,_ there's no way you could apply it. My poison inflicts a short term, yet total paralysis. That means I'll have just enough time to kill you! Not even that healing jutsu will save you now…"

Sakura grit her teeth, but it was no use. She was done for. No matter how much willpower she exerted, her body refused to obey. It was all Sakura could do to remain standing.

There was a crackle of lightning as Sasuke slammed his palm into the ground beneath him. Chidori spread out in a radial fashion, blasting apart the earthen walls. Sakura guessed that her ally had dispatched the remaining clones and decided to use the opportunity to destroy the stone constructs in case their creator tried to use them for something else.

"Die!" her poisoner yelled, closing in for the kill, uncaring of the destruction below.

Sakura looked up at her incoming death, unable to escape or even blink. As the ninja brandished a kunai, all she could do was think back to the past events that had led her to this place. She'd heard that one's entire life flashed before their eyes moments before they perished, but all Sakura could dwell on was her regrets. She regretted being reckless, regretted not being strong or fast enough to fight well despite that recklessness. She regretted normal things, too, like not spending enough time with her parents, being mean to Naruto, and more.

But most of all, she regretted not being able to kiss Sasuke. It seemed a pathetic regret to her, and maybe it was, but at least it was an honest one.

Sakura braced herself for the impact, wondering what dying would feel like.

Apparently, it felt like being dizzy.

 _Wait, what?_

Sakura refocused on the sight before her, realizing that the deathblow was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it seemed that she was in a different place entirely.

 _Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?_

Sakura tried to move but found that she could not. If she was dead, why couldn't she move? Poison didn't matter to a spirit, did it?

Her vision swam again, then cleared. Sakura was in a circle of shattered stones, craters dotting the earth around her.

 _How did I get back here?_ she thought. _Did Sasuke do something?_

It hit her like a ton of bricks. If she had somehow swapped with him, then where was he?

Sakura craned her neck, finding that the toxin was beginning to wear off. She looked up and saw a sight that horrified her.

Sasuke was locked in a death embrace with the mummy-ninja. He had managed to turn slightly to the side, but the weapon was still embedded deep in the center of his chest were his heart should be. His one arm clutched his sword, which was buried in the other person's heart. The steel emerged from their back like an obscene, crimson pillar.

Both Sasuke and the enemy nin dribbled blood and fell in opposite directions. She watched them tumble to the ground helplessly.

"Sas…uke," she managed to grumble in a pained tone as tears slid down her cheeks.

"Damn, I can't believe that freak actually managed to take Sasuke down," the water-nin spoke to his earth-nin companion, the latter of the two emerging from underground. The speaker glanced over at Sasuke's fallen, immobile body, flashing a grin. "This way was easier than we thought, my friend."

"Now we just have to…finish this…bitch off…" the stone shinobi panted, his chest heaving with the exertion of creating so many rock clones. He began to take several cautious steps towards her.

"Not so fast," Sakura heard the older man warn. "She's got some fight left in her."

Sakura flexed her muscles, finding strength rapidly returning to her frame. She stood up, eyes blazing with rage.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Missile!" the mist shinobi proclaimed, weaving signs.

An instant later, a massive spear made of water and shaped like a dragon materialized and shot towards the kunoichi. Sakura was ready, though, and met the attack head-on. Her empowered fist slugged the head of the beast with all her might, and she released another savage growl of "Shannaro!" as she did so.

The impact was so ludicrously strong that the air itself battered back the water jutsu, returning it to the old man, who was too slow to avoid it. The younger earth shinobi was also caught in the blast and struggled vainly to escape with his chakra-depleted body.

As the liquid washed away, Sakura saw that the two men were slumped against a tree, gasping for air.

"Explode!" the water-nin said as he clasped his fingers together.

Sakura had closed about half the distance before the paper bombs detonated, ripping away the protective layer of branches and exposing her to the fury of the storm above.

"Shiro!" the drenched earth ninja yelled, as he scooped up his comrade and barely managed to leap back into a part of the forest that hadn't been stripped of its canopy.

"Lighting Style: Electric Crescendo!" the cloud ninja behind her said.

Aware that she was soaking wet, along with the rest of the nearby ground, Sakura leaped into the air and off to one side. A crackling pillar of deadly lightning narrowly missed her body, practically blinding her in the process. She hit the ground about twenty yards away, her one-hundred-healings jutsu repairing the damage that was caused by the lingering shock inside the puddles of water. Her limbs threatened to seize up from the energy, but her anger and chakra control allowed her to shrug off the paralysis.

As soon as she could, Sakura was darting towards a safe part of the woods…but was immediately blocked by the water-earth pair.

"We need to tag her, or else she'll just keep healing," the earth one said. "You do it. My chakra nature prevents me."

The water ninja nodded and drew out a fistful of shuriken. He threw them in a curving fan at Sakura, who was able to keep herself from succumbing to hatred long enough to duck. To her surprise, though, the missiles changed course and flew straight for the cloud ninja above and behind her, embedding into a tree trunk next to him.

"Lightning Style: Grounding Rod!" the man blurted, causing electrical tentacles to materialize and grasp at the metal missiles.

As Sakura watched, the appendages twisted, flicking the weapons—which were now crackling with a static charge of their own-back at her. Sakura dodged again, leaping high into the air. She threw several barrages of her own ninja tools as she went, impeding the water-nin's charge as well as forcing the cloud one to counter or risk being hit himself.

The tactic paid off. Her attacker's aim was compromised as he leapt aside, causing the shuriken to deposit themselves in scattered locations all over the battlefield. Each of them created a puddle of electrified water where they landed, but Sakura was sure that she could avoid them in the future. She fought the oppressive cascade of rain as she twisted in midair, readying herself for a prolonged taijutsu battle.

The kunoichi forced herself to think rationally. It was difficult, with all the fantasies of vengeance for Sasuke's death clouding her thoughts, but there was one thing she was able to figure out: whatever these guys were planning, it was probably some trick to stop her from avoiding the lightning blasts. Her healing could outpace the ordinary blade attacks, but if one of them did manage to get stuck in her…from the sound of it, the storm would be drawn to that and incinerate her whole body. Sakura knew that she had prevent that at any cost.

She splashed as she hit the ground, and the old man was waiting for her. He came at her with a barrage of kicks and punches, keeping her on her toes as another version of him wove signs from far away. Clearly, her attacker was a water clone.

Sakura parried as she tried to figure out what to do. Her opponent didn't give her the chance, though, as water tentacles began to emerge and take control of the shuriken in the ground. They absorbed the electricity, which did nothing to them: they merely conducted it as they swung the metal weapon in circles like saw blades.

The next few minutes were sheer hell. Sakura was constantly contorting in bizarre shapes as she navigated a labyrinth of spinning lightning metal and the punches of the water clone. Amidst all the chaos, she barely found the time to counter. All Sakura could do was land one punch.

Fortunately, that was all she needed.

The water clone exploded with a loud hiss, scattering droplets everywhere. "You killed Sasuke!" she screamed. "I'll rend you limb from limb!"

The real old man and his companion looked at each other from edge of the battlefield. The former shook his head.

"No more chakra either, eh?" the latter confirmed. "All right, let's take this bitch down with taijutsu then."

The water tentacles drooped, but now there were two incoming enemies. Sakura sighed in relief: the tentacles had nearly stuck her with their impossibly fluid movements and ability to sluice around the battlefield. Not having to face them anymore would be a huge boon.

Yet, Sakura was also incredibly tired and weak. Her healing jutsu was running on fumes from the constant demand of absorbing small static shocks from the puddles, and the previous punch was probably her last.

 _If I'm going down, I'm taking as many of these bastards with me as a I can. For Sasuke._

Sakura cracked her neck, a plan forming in her mind. It was basically suicidal, but it just might work.

Her opponents closed in from both sides, and she made a half-hearted attempt to counter; just enough to make it look like she was trying. The men picked up the shuriken from the ground and swung them like fist blades.

Sakura spun away, but purposely let the ones used by the water-nin nick her. She felt a jolt as an electrical charge seared into her body.

"Now!" both of her enemies yelled in unison. "She's marked!"

The one called Shiro smirked. "Lightning Style: Thunderous Finale!"

A white-hot bolt of death bridged earth and sky.

"Shannaro!"

Another Sakura appeared behind the old man.

"What?" he gasped before being punched hard enough to send him crashing against Sakura an instant before the lightning struck.

And in that same instant, Sakura ripped a shuriken from her own body and sent it flying at the earth-nin. His mouth went agape in surprise as it sunk into his chest.

The world became an empty void of white light as electricity was drawn to the chakra beacon implanted inside Sakura. She felt unimaginable pain as the power of an entire storm surged through her.

The leaf ninja was not the only one who suffered from this attack, however. The old man, who was thrown against her by the other Sakura, absorbed some of the shock as well. A tendril of electricity also surged between Sakura's body and the stunned earth ninja, who successfully diverted some of the damage.

The next thing Sakura knew, she was staring up at a cloudy sky. Raindrops were no longer drenching her but were replaced by something far worse: a maddening itch that encompassed all her sensation. She smelled a disgusting cloud of burning flesh and knew it was not only hers, but the flesh of the enemy shinobi as well. Sakura wanted to vomit but had not the energy to move.

For the second time that day, Sakura was awestruck that she survived.

 _It must have been the healing jutsu,_ Sakura decided.

As if on cue, she sensed the markings on her body retreat. The ability had evidently burned itself up by regenerating her body from the blackened husk that it had likely been.

Not that it mattered. That cloud ninja, Shiro, was probably still alive and unaffected by the strike, considering it was his. He'd come over to finish her off, but since nothing could change the fact that Sasuke was dead, she welcomed it. Perhaps if there was an afterlife, she would receive a chance to be with him there.

"Wow. That was incredible," Shiro said, coming into view above her. "I've never seen anyone do anything quite like that before. I can't help but acknowledge your determination and skill."

Sakura glared up at him. She tried to think of something to say, but everything just felt…empty. What was the point of talking to this guy?

"It's ok. I was planning on killing everyone else for the sharingan anyway. All you did was make my job easier. So, thanks for that."

Shiro kneeled over her, his white hair brushing Sakura's face. She wished she could reach up, grip it, and swing the man like a ragdoll.

"I don't know when you found the time to create that shadow clone, but it was brilliant. Just brilliant," he went on. "I've known a few kunoichi like you before. The clever ones are always so much fun."

Sakura gulped, not liking at all where this was going.

Shiro stroked her cheek obscenely. "I think I'll have a bit of fun with you before I slit your throat. Fucking corpses isn't quite the same, you know? Dead women can't feel fear."

He smirked lecherously, then picked Sakura up and began to drag her under the nearest tree that hadn't had its branches blown off by paper bombs.

For the first time in a long while, Sakura felt true fear. She'd been prepared to die, had even accepted it. But this, what she knew was about to happen, it was something different entirely, something infinitely worse.

"What? You're too proud to beg me to stop?" the cloud-nin teased. "Or are you just too weak?"

Sakura barely heard him. She was trying her best to dissociate from her body in preparation for what was to come. Thoughts of Sasuke flooded her mind as her inner self railed against the injustice of it all. The sheer vulnerability, aloneness, and panic threatened knock her mercifully unconscious.

A sharp slap stung her face, stopping that from happening. "Stay with me, you little whore. Do you understand? If you do, I may just decide to let you die and join your boyfriend in the afterlife when I'm done. If he'll even want you anymore, that is."

Shiro chuckled at the perverse evil of the situation, clearly getting off on her torment. Sakura shut her eyes as she was slammed against a tree trunk, trying to block out as much as possible.

Shiro braced his hips crudely against hers and Sakura was horrified by the bulge she felt there. Her knees were suddenly jerked apart and her ankles thrown to the side as Shiro braced the kunoichi against the tree with the weight of his body and his hands on her ass.

"I want you so fucking bad," he whispered into her ear as he grinded himself against her core. "Scream for me, or I'll use my knife to make you."

Sakura gulped and began to sob. She considered herself a proud and strong person, but in this situation, she didn't think anyone could have blamed her.

"Sasuke…" she whimpered.

Sakura heard a pair of trousers unzipping, followed by a hand forcing itself between her legs.

"Scream for this."

Sakura was sure she must have been driven insane by the terror of her situation and was hallucinating. That voice…it couldn't possibly be him. She'd watched him die. The pink-haired nin refused to open her eyes and tease herself with delusions that couldn't be real.

Sakura started to fall. This time, she did open her eyes, wondering what the hell was happening.

As the woman slumped against the base of the tree, she saw Sasuke standing over Shiro, the latter kneeling on the ground with his arms thrown wide. Chidori was streaming through Sasuke's arm and into the man's skull through a pair of fingers that were jammed into his eye sockets. He thrashed madly and howled with an agony so disturbing that Sakura felt her bones quiver.

"Amaterasu," Sasuke stated casually.

Black flames flowed down his arm from his right eye, accompanied by streams of bloody tears. The fire entered Shiro's skull and began to consume him from the inside out, starting with his optic nerves. Sasuke released the man and stepped back, staring down at the sadistic shinobi as he squirmed and died in sickening pain. Even Sakura could not help but feel the cruelty of it; although the man was quickly reduced to a shriveled husk like his companions, the torture he experienced must have been equal to the misery of entire wars.

Sasuke swiveled and turned his back on the dying shinobi as he stood over Sakura.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said, picking her up gently.

Sakura's heart throbbed in relief. The high-octane drama of the past hour was wearing on her, and now that she was safe, Sakura felt darkness closing in.

"What…how…" Sakura managed to ask, half-suspecting the answer would be 'it was all a dream'.

She felt herself being carried deeper in the forest. Her eyelids flickered, feeling like they were weighted with lead. Her consciousness was fading fast, and the only thing she could think to do was lean her head against Sasuke's chest as he carried her.

"Sasuke…" she mumbled before peacefully drifting off.


	2. Chapter 2

Consciousness returned to Sakura in waves. At first, her eyelids did nothing but flicker vainly before settling her back in to the realm of troubling dreams with nothing more than a few vague sensations with which to gauge her condition.

The kunoichi felt weak, sore, and exhausted despite whatever amount of time she'd spent asleep. Sakura could tell that she didn't have any actual physical wounds left, thanks to her healing abilities. Still, she felt awful…though not awful enough to move if the need should arise.

That being the case, she eventually decided to get up and figure out where she was and how she had gotten there. It was a hard choice, considering that she was warm, comfortable, and resting on something soft for some reason, but she made it anyway.

Sakura's eyes groaned in protest as she forced them open and blinked away the blurriness. The first thing she saw was a campfire: orange and hot. That, along with the bedroll she was curled up on and the blanket that was wrapped around her, explained her warmth. In fact, it looked as if she was in a makeshift camp of some kind: she could see ninja wire strung between nearby trees and attached to various bells that would ring if disturbed or cut. Her gear, along with other vital supplies, were set up around the area as well.

Sakura's mind recoiled from this shock, attempting to reconcile this scene with her memories of what had happened before. The battle with the rogue band of ninja, her grievous wounds, the outcome…it all came to her in a rush, dispelling the nightmares which had contained more distressing, but thankfully false versions of those memories.

 _Wait…how the hell DID I get out of that…situation, with that bastard Shiro?_ Sakura asked herself.

It struck her like the bolt of lightning which she had luckily survived.

 _Sasuke_.

Sakura reeled, looking around the makeshift camp in a panic. Clearly, the shinobi was alive, for who else would have put her there? Yet, she had thought that the man was supposed to be dead, and distrusted her recollection of him rescuing her from Shiro. A fantasy, perhaps?

Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked quietly. There was no answer.

The woman tore herself from the blankets, instantly feeling a chill. She ignored it with her iron will and stood on shaky legs. At first she stumbled, but was eventually able to move gracefully.

That's when she remembered her shinobi training, and how she had been taught to conceal herself in a tree or other nearby hiding place in the circumstance that she had to watch over a sleeping or injured comrade. Sakura looked up, and sure enough, there he was. Though not visible (he was likely using a stationary camouflage jutsu), Sakura's sharp senses were able to detect him.

"Sasuke?" she called up to him. "I know you are there. I'm awake, now."

Still no answer. Sakura got impatient, but also worried, and began to channel what little chakra she had to walk up the tree trunk.

When she reached the branch where Sasuke was reposed, she crouched in front of him and tentatively reached out.

Suddenly, Sakura was no longer in the forest. She was in a nightmarish realm of red clouds, swirling shadows, and cawing crows.

 _A genjutsu? Why? How?_

Just as quickly, the condition ended, forcing her back to the real world of the tree branch. When she arrived, she saw Sasuke, fully visible and materialized, now, holding his hand against her throat in a chopping motion, chidori racing along the edge of his palm.

Sakura blinked back at the person she loved most in the world, seeing one crimson, blazing eye with a swirling pattern staring back at her. No matter how many times she saw them, the power and visage of Sasuke's eyes would always be disturbing.

Despite that fact, Sakura was unafraid. "Sasuke, it's me," she spoke gently, reading his own fear concealed beneath the hardened exterior.

Sasuke grunted and deactivated his sharingan, the chidori fading a second after as he lowered his hands.

"Defense measure," he slurred. Sakura wasn't sure if it was tiredness or callousness. Likely both.

She opened her mouth to ask him what that meant, but was distracted by the wound she saw on Sasuke's torso. It was a large, red gash in the organless meat of his upper right chest. Still, it looked rather serious. The plain shirt beneath his cloak was inundated with dark blood, and Sakura wasn't surprised that she perceived weakness in Sasuke's frame. Moreover, he was slumped back against the three trunk and had clearly been sleeping.

"Sasuke, you're hurt. Let me take a look at that," the medical ninja said.

Sasuke stared at her. "No. I'll be fine. Your chakra," he said quickly and mechanically, as if rushing through the words to get out an uncomfortable situation.

Sakura frowned. "Don't be stupid," Sakura chided. "I have enough after that rest, and that cut is probably already infected."

Sasuke stared at her, then nodded solemnly before looking away. He did not protest as Sakura put her hands over the wound and began to channel pale-green healing chakra into it, but she did feel him tense beneath her as if uncomfortable with her closeness.

A soft humming sound filled the air as Sakura worked, fighting the headache that pounded within her. Minutes passed, and she was unsure what she should say, if anything. The events of…however long ago that fight had been were dramatic and confusing. The woman had so many questions to ask the Uchiha, and not all of them even pertained to that. The prospect of Sasuke being patient with her seemed extremely dubious at best, though. Not for the first time, the kunoichi wondered if this had been a stupid idea.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"About a day, I think. I drifted off."

"How responsible of you."

Sasuke turned to glare at her briefly. "I had a hole in my chest," he growled. "A wound I took for you. Besides, I trained myself to sleep with one eye open."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. Just how violent was his life he had needed to acquire such a skill? It was a thought she did not want to pursue; she had an idea as to the answer.

"Hrm…" the pink-haired woman mumbled. "How did you use Tsukuyomi on me if you were asleep?"

Sasuke didn't answer at first, and enough time passed that Sakura thought he would ignore her.

"The mangekyo renders you blind if you use it too much," the dark-haired shinobi explained. "Unless you replace them with the eyes of another Uchiha with whom you share a familial bond, that is. I still have mine, and used then to program these to put someone under genjtusu if they try to hurt me while I sleep."

That was a lot to take in. Brutal and macabre, but efficient. It made a certain kind sense, except for one thing.

"I…see," Sakura began. "Then whose eyes are your…"

 _Damn,_ Sakura thought. She could make a reasonable guess, and knew it wasn't a good idea to finish the thought. Naruto had told her everything about Itachi's true nature and mission, despite his oath not to reveal the potentially dangerous secret. If he hadn't, Sakura doubted she would have come looking for Sasuke. She probably would've still hated him, rather than coming to understand the motivation behind his actions…even if she didn't think they were justified. In fact, if anything, the truth about Itachi had only made her sympathize with the last Uchiha more. Sakura realized that the pain he must have gone through-must have still been going through- was unimaginable.

"So what happened yesterday, Sasuke? I thought you had died," Sakura blurted, trying to change the topic while also keeping the lump that rose in her throat from affecting her voice.

"I used my Rinnegan to switch places with you," Sasuke said. "The blade did hit me, but I turned to the side. It was not fatal, but I was affected by that toxin. I froze up and hit the ground, and a concussion rendered me unconscious. I awoke to the sound of your screams when that guy was…" Sasuke trailed off, surprisingly possessing the sensitivity not to go into further detail.

"Then how…"

"I put you and everyone else under genjutsu in the instant it happened," he responded. "I knew that if you thought I was dead, a desire for vengeance would make you fight harder. It also stopped them from finishing me off."

Sakura frowned again. Sasuke had blatantly admitted to manipulating her, and while it was expected, given the nature of his character, it did hurt a bit. She couldn't deny the cold logic of it, however. Deep down, she knew it was one of the things she loved about him. He was just so…unapologetic and emotional, doing what needed to be done at all times, whereas she often struggled with her feelings and found them getting in the way.

The down side, though, was that this trait gave Sasuke the empathetic skill of a rock. Still, Sakura suspected that Sasuke felt a lot more than he let on. Someone like him, someone who had seen his whole clan savagely murdered by the one person he loved most in the world, and as child, no less…it had to be enough to kill the compassion of just about anyone. If anyone had a right to be fearful and avoidant of intimacy, it was him.

Sakura felt the urge to reach out and give the Uchiha a hug, but she refrained.

Instead, she just nodded. "Thank you, Sasuke."

Sasuke grunted in response and didn't look at her. Whether his lack of saying 'you're welcome' was born out of narcissistic pride or simple humility, she could not tell. Besides, she knew more than to expect such basic levels of courtesy from him.

Technically speaking, the medic-nin did have Sasuke essentially captured, at least for the moment. The practical Uchiha wasn't going flee from her, not when he desperately needed her healing jutsu. Sakura expected that he would leave as soon as he could after that, though. Perhaps now was her one and only chance to speak to the man whose presence she had craved for years.

Sakura nodded, determined to make the most out of whatever time she could get. She had made a promise to Tsunade to clear her mind, after all. Plus, there had to be some gain at the end of the day to justify the risks and near-death experiences, even if Sakura didn't know what the ultimate extent or nature of that gain would even be.

"Why did you do it?" Sakura suddenly asked, solemn and serious.

Again, Sasuke delayed his answer. Sakura gulped, feeling the tension thickening in the air. The only thing he did was recline in the tree and stay impossibly still as Sakura worked on his wound, wearing a contemplative look that she barely managed to see through the stoic mask on his face.

"The same reason I didn't immediately use Susanoo or Amaterasu," Sasuke said slowly, tentatively, tasting the words as if alien to him. "I don't believe in killing anymore. I believe in saving lives."

Sakura almost laughed out loud. It was bizarre to hear Sasuke say such a thing after he had murdered samurai, attacked the five kage in the land of iron, and even attempted to kill her on multiple occasions.

"So…what, Sasuke? You're a goody-two-shoes like Naruto, now?" Sakura said, smiling.

"Do not compare me to him," Sasuke warned her sternly.

Sakura wanted to chuckle again, but held it back. The comment had set her at ease: it reminded her of the good days, when Team 7 had been three genin and Kakashi-sensei.

Sasuke took a deep, steadying breath before continuing. "My exile changed my view. I'm not sure what I believe anymore, what is right or wrong. All I know is I want to help the village, and be as little of a destructive force in the world as I can. That is my redemption."

Sakura felt something strange in her chest at these words. It was a hard feeling to describe, but if she had tried, she might have called it 'a warm, fuzzy feeling of hope', as stupid as she knew that sounded. Damn, maybe Naruto was rubbing off on her. In any case, it was good to hear Sasuke say such a noble and wise thing, and the woman truly believed for some reason that the shinobi meant it. It seemed he really had learned his lesson and reformed. This made her heart feel lighter: there were now less mental gymnastics she would have to do while analyzing her reasons for loving this unlovable rogue.

"I think I understand," Sakura said while biting her lip to help her concentrate on healing Sasuke with the small amount of chakra she had left. "You didn't want to kill those rogue nin, just knock them unconscious, which meant you couldn't provide them any proof that you're Sasuke Uchiha by using your visual prowess; they'd tell others and cause more to come after you for the eyes...or vengeance."

Sasuke didn't bother to confirm or deny that statement, but it was pretty obvious that Sakura had correctly deduced his motives.

The sounds of the forest: chirping birds, footfalls of deer, and the distant howls of predators filled the scene as the two ninja sat in silence.

A troubling thought filled Sakura's mind. If the new Sasuke had a rule against killing, why had he broken it for her? The implications of the answer to that question were staggering, and would most likely not be well received by Sasuke if she voiced them out loud. Still, Sakura found herself feeling a lot more cheerful. For once, it seemed that there was the slightest glimmer of hope that this excursion would end well for her.

The kunoichi wanted to say more, but there wasn't time. The Uchiha's wound was pretty much perfectly sealed up, and there was little else she could do, especially since she was about to pass out from chakra depletion.

From the look of things, Sasuke knew that too.

"All done," Sakura announced, leaning away to give the man his much-needed space. "Just put salve on it and be careful. It should be totally fine soon."

Sasuke nodded. "Thank you, Sakura," he added, making eye contact with her that wasn't intimidating or hostile for once. In fact, Sakura could almost swear it was…

"Whoa," the medical ninja said, wobbling on the branch. She instantly felt weak again, nearly as much so as the day before. Her vision went hazy and she swayed over the edge.

Sakura's awareness returned several moments after she thought she would've hit the ground. Instead of feeling pain, she felt the warm, soft presence of another person's body: more specifically, Sasuke's.

Sakura found herself blushing as an involuntary gasp escaped her throat. Everything felt hot and she nearly swooned again.

 _Kill me now,_ Inner Sakura whined.

"Are you okay?" Sasuke's voice reached down to her. He spoke in a monotone, yet Sakura thought she detected a tiny hint of some other emotion behind the façade…though she wasn't sure if it was real, or her delirious, hopeful imagination.

Sakura groaned, fighting hard to not let the sound become a contented moan of pleasure. Sasuke's body felt wonderful against her, and the kunoichi knew that this was probably her one and only chance to feel that sensation. The thought was depressing, and she found herself trying to swallow another small lump.

"Yeah, I'm just…" Sakura mumbled, her eyelids flickering. "Overestimated my chakra."

Sakura looked up and saw Sasuke nod robotically. "You need more rest," he observed while carrying her with his real arm under her knees and a Susanoo arm supporting her back. He quickly managed to place the kunoichi back on the bedroll and get her settled again.

"Your concussion…"

"I'll be fine. You're in worse shape than me."

"Sasuke," Sakura whispered, "this is like that time before you…before you left with Oorochimaru."

Sasuke seemed to be ignoring her.

"Only this time, you're not going to leave me alone, I hope," she chuckled.

Sasuke shook his head. "Don't worry, I'll watch over you. Just concentrate on rest."

"There's just one thing missing, then," Sakura replied as she adjusted herself on the bedroll.

Sasuke sighed, clearly annoyed. "What?" he angrily asked after a few seconds.

"This time, I don't know why you said 'I'm sorry'."

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke shot back, placing the blanket over her. "I'm going to have to say it again."

Sakura looked at him questioningly.

The last thing she remembered was the swirling black symbols of Sasuke's crimson sharingan as he made eye contact with her and commanded: "Sleep".


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura put a hand over her eyes, sheltering them against the golden rays of morning sunlight. The beams pierced the veil of tall foliage in which she stood, causing the vibrant-green trees to cast long, beautiful shadows. The sensation of radiance felt pleasant on her skin; it was warm and refreshing, compared to the dusky forest center in which she'd spent the better part of two days healing and replenishing her chakra.

As she looked up into the sunrise, she couldn't help but express a smile. "Beautiful," she spoke quietly. The kunoichi continued to bathe in the light for several moments, resolved to savor one of life's many simple pleasures that was often fleeting for those involved in the deadly career of the shinobi.

The moment was eventually broken by a slight rustle of leaves that came from behind her. Sakura did not need to glance backwards to know who it was. It was standard ninja etiquette to purposefully make a small amount noise when approaching an ally from behind, lest they mistake one's movements for those of an enemy. In a world of superhuman physical feats and fantastic jutsu, the phrase 'friendly fire' could be incredibly relevant, and, especially in the case of the Hidden Leaf Village, quite literal.

"Yes, it is," Sasuke stated with that mechanical, measured tone of his. Sakura peered at his expression out of the corners of her eyes as he came parallel to her. Much to her dismay, the black-haired rogue ninja was just as expressionless as ever. If Sasuke had any kind of emotional reaction to the scene in front of him, he wasn't showing it.

The kunoichi found herself frowning. It depressed her to think that her companion was so apathetic that something as natural and pleasing as a sunrise had no effect on him. And if that was the case, Sakura wondered what other pleasures Sasuke was unable to partake in. Just how bleak and miserable was his existence, anyway?

Unraveling the dark depths of that question was somewhat an exercise in futility, Sakura knew. In many ways, the man she loved seemed to be a personification of the word 'enigma' itself. Still, she was determined to try. Although the last Uchiha's torment was likely self-inflicted, his actions were somewhat justified. Sakura could not even begin to imagine what it must be like for him…to be the last remaining member of his clan, to witness the murder of everyone close to him as a child, to endure the sheer loneliness and isolation, to be an exile from the only village that housed people who cared about him, to be a criminal who bore the weight of heinous past mistakes…it would drive any normal person mad. If anything, the world was lucky that Sasuke had come to his senses and decided to dedicate his life to absolution, instead of taking the easy way out.

 _No one would blame him if he…_

Sakura did not let herself finish the thought.

 _And I doubt many would care, either._

The pink haired woman blinked away a small tear that began to form in her eye. As it slid down her cheek, she quickly turned, pretending to cough as she secretly wiped the moisture away.

 _I would care, Sasuke,_ Sakura thought solemnly, her heart throbbing.

Sasuke broke the silence, mercifully tearing her from the quiet contemplation. "We should head to the village, soon," he suggested.

Sakura turned to him and nodded, unable to speak.

Suddenly, Sasuke held out his only hand and formed a simple sign. There was a puff of smoke that immediately dissipated, revealing the male shinobi standing in the same position as before.

Sakura raised her eyebrows as she inspected the sign. "Were you trying to transform?" she asked incredulously.

Sasuke turned slowly, then glowered at her. "I didn't _try,"_ he corrected sharply.

Realization dawned on her as she took in Sasuke's image. Although he looked like much the same person as before, many of his key features were slightly different. The changes were not radical enough to have fooled someone who knew him well, such as herself, though she honestly wondered if that was simply because she had seen him perform the jutsu in the first place. If she hadn't, Sakura thought she might very well have mistaken Sasuke for someone who simply bore many coincidental resemblances to the las Uchiha.

Sasuke's long, ebony hair was a noticeable shade lighter, and although a thick lock still fell over his left eye, his overall hairstyle was noticeably different. His skin was a little darker, as if he had been tanned slightly. His clothes had taken on the modest, well-worn look of a lower class traveler instead of the dark cloak and shinobi gear he normally wore. His katana and other tools had no doubt entered the dimensional spaces accessed through the summoning glyphs stored in scrolls somewhere in his backpack. Sasuke's build was almost the same as well, though his muscles were slightly less defined, giving him the overall presence of a working-class man, and not a deadly shinobi.

Sakura put her hands on her hips and smirked, impressed. She thought she understood what he had been going for. If so, Sasuke had clearly succeeded at it.

"Wow, Sasuke. If I didn't know better, I might think you're just a look-alike," she complimented. "The only question is, why not look like someone else entirely?" she followed up with a quirk of her eyebrow.

Sasuke made a sound in his throat and looked away from her. After a long moment, he finally replied. "I'm sure you realize that an experienced shinobi can see through transformation jutsu," he began, his eyes scanning the environment around them as if to make sure they weren't being overheard. "Since those are exactly the kind of ninja after me, I've learned not to rely on obvious tricks like that."

Sakura nodded. His words made sense. "So why bother at all?"

Sasuke smirked to himself as if savoring his own genius. "What do you think would happen, Sakura, if someone perceived that a shinobi was using a transformation jutsu, but they outwardly appeared to be the notorious criminal Sasuke Uchiha?"

The kunoichi's eyes opened wide as it dawned on her. "They would assume you're a different shinobi entirely who wanted to look like Sasuke for some reason. After all, if Sasuke really wanted to hide, why would he make himself look like a slightly different version of himself? You're hiding in plain sight."

"Ja," Sasuke intoned. "There are still a few issues, though."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one," he began, "A clever opponent might wonder why anyone would choose to look like me, considering the bounties on my head, the grudges, and the allure of killing me for my eyes. Secondly, if they had done their research properly, they would know that Sasuke Uchiha is smart enough to pull off reverse psychology. And lastly, this method won't fool anyone with a Sharingan, Rinnegan, or Byakugan."

Sasuke looked at her. "Is anyone from the Leaf looking for me?"

"Just one," Sakura said glibly.

Sasuke almost chuckled. "Just so. Well, we don't have to worry about the last one, then."

Sakura nodded. "That's good. Anyway, should I do the same?"

Sasuke silently and stoically pondered the question. "It might be a good idea. I don't know how much of a name you've made for yourself since the war, but even so, you did fight alongside me during it. Someone could deduce my identity from deducing yours."

"Won't two shinobi attract more attention than one?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Perhaps. One is suspicious enough on their own, though. And even that assumes another shinobi is even around to see us, and that they'll also realize we are transformed. Besides, this town is known as a hot spring vacation destination for all sorts of people, including shinobi hailing from opposing villages. We won't necessarily stand out. It's probably normal for visiting ninja to use transformations, for obvious reasons."

Sakura nodded. "Makes sense. But what's our story? It kind of determines how I should appear."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Sasuke sighed with annoyance, "there is only one option." He swiveled to face Sakura once more. "We have to pose as a married couple," he drawled as if pained just to invite the mental image.

Sakura went pale, then smiled widely after wiping the shock from her face. "I must be dreaming. Or maybe you're not the real Sasuke after all. He would never suggest something like that."

Sasuke frowned, then dipped his chin downwards, his feelings unreadable. "It is practical," he grumbled.

Perhaps it was just Sakura's imagination and wishful thinking, but it sounded as if his sentiment was feigned, as if he had tried to cover a genuine reaction with his cold mask of logic. She brushed the thought away, though. It was best not to dwell on such fantasies.

"Whatever you say," the kunoichi could not resist mumbling skeptically. She had to admit, teasing the Uchiha was a small consolation prize.

She clasped her hands together, and there was another puff of smoke. When it cleared, Sakura appeared much differently: her pink hair had become darker and longer than his, cascading down her shoulders in a silky waterfall of organized locks. Her red dress, bandage wrappings, and shinobi leggings adorned with pouches became the clothes of an average rural housewife, stained with the grime and wear of cleaning and gardening. Her build changed as well, making her taller and bearing less of the lithe muscle gained from the profession of combat.

"What do you think?" Sakura asked, holding her open palms out as she spun her hips, twirling her long, simple skirt.

Sasuke did not immediately reply. He seemed to stare at her for an inordinate and uncharacteristic amount of time. Sakura stopped posing and took a step towards him. "Sasuke, are you ok?" she eventually asked, concern lacing her tone.

Sasuke's expression was blank and unemotive, yet intense; an aura that he maintained even as he blinked, shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, and looked sharply away. "It's ok," he blurted in a monotone. "That will work."

Sakura opened her mouth to protest his strange attitude and the lack of even a simple comment. Then she remembered that it was foolish to expect anything more than obsessive self-isolation and extreme avoidance of implied affection. This reality angered her as well; _Sasuke_ angered her.

Still, as the kunoichi looked at him, she thought she saw the faint hue of a blush on his cheeks. She blinked, unsure if what she was seeing was real or just another one of her stupid fantasies. After several seconds of thinking, she decided to dismiss the observation. There was no way Sasuke had had the reaction she'd hoped for. Sakura knew better than to expect that.

 _I need to move on,_ she thought to herself. _Sasuke will never feel that way about me._

Sakura's heart ached, and she found herself pondering if she should depart as soon as possible. The longer she spent with him, the more and more obvious it became that the man would never return her affections. Sure, it wasn't as if she viewed him with the starstruck doe eyes of her adolescence. She was fully grown and mature woman, now, and it was obvious that she no longer annoyed Sasuke in the same way or to the same degree.

No, the reason behind the other shinobi's scorn was not borne of annoyance. If anything, Sasuke seemed to like and respect her, or was at the very least indifferent. Rather, it seemed to be pathological aversion to any situation that involved something other than Sasuke being dour and isolated.

"I'll be Shun. I'm a construction worker," Sasuke offered, shaking Sakura from her reverie.

"Alright. My name is…Akane," Sakura replied, tapping her lips with a finger. "Shun's newly-wedded bride."

Sasuke shot her a sidelong look.

"It will be more believable if we're on our honeymoon, given our apparent ages."

What Sakura did not say was that she had an ulterior motive for suggesting this charade.

Sasuke nodded. "Let's go, then." Then he stepped out from behind the wall of trees and set off down the dirt road that led into the town.

Sakura trotted up beside him, smiling. She had to admit, the idea of pretending to be his bride intrigued her, and she looked forward to the deception. Even though they had only decided on staying for one night to help recover their strength and lay low, she felt excited.

What she did not look forward to, however, was the following morning. Sasuke's tone had implied he would ask her to leave, and Sakura honestly didn't know how she would deal with it. On one hand, she felt like staying with Sasuke was a good idea. Although he was monstrously powerful, he was only one man, after all. Being outnumbered, alone, and constantly hunted was not easy on the mind. The battle against the strange group of four ninja two days prior had proven that. Clearly, Sasuke was capable of making mistakes, and as long as he refused to unleash his full power, there was a very real possibility that he might be killed.

Sakura mentally reviewed everything she had seen so far. From what she could tell, Sasuke was constantly under attack. Everything about his habits, his methods, and his attitude practically screamed it. Sakura could only imagine what that was like, and she was certain she would not have been able to deal with the stress as well as he.

 _Then again,_ Sakura mused, _he has practice with misery, doesn't he?_

Hell, maybe that was the exactly the way he liked it. As much as she hated to entertain the thought, it was quite possible that the tragic events of Sasuke's life had rendered him unable to function like a normal person. With this possibility in mind, Sakura redoubled her efforts to solve the puzzle of whether or not she should leave. If the Uchiha was determined to be relentlessly asexual, aromantic, asocial, and (until recently), amoral, then what was it of her concern?

Oh, who was she kidding? Sakura knew there was no way she could give up on the man. Cursing her stubbornness, she briefly asked herself if there was some way she might be able to 'fix' him. She brushed the urge aside just as quickly: its was childish, immature, and worst of all…unrealistic.

"Sakura…" she heard Sasuke ask inquisitively.

She stopped, realizing that her hands were clenched in frustration. It would have been easy to mistake the gesture for nervousness.

"We should be wary of further attacks, but at this point, I think it isn't too much of a concern. This method of disguise works most of the time."

"Well, it won't work if you go around saying suspicious things like that," Sakura shot back teasingly.

Sasuke scoffed. "If anyone was watching us before, they would be following us now, in which case, they overheard everything and the plan won't work anyway. We'll either be immediately attacked when the moment is opportune, or not at all."

Sakura nodded. It was hard to deny his reasoning, yet she wished he was better at taking jokes.

The duo continued for several more minutes, making casual progress across the wide grassland stretched between multiple forests housing the village they sought. Before long they could see it up ahead, albeit as a vague blur several miles away.

Sakura scanned the environment as they walked, enjoying the gentle breeze and the way it rustled the brush, creating a calm, natural-sounding rhythm. It was strangely serene, even though the terrain was barren, save for the simple fields of dull grass and occasional mounds of dirt.

The kunoichi's worries began to melt away. She found herself forgetting the stressful, workaholic lifestyle she had found for herself at the Leaf Village. She told herself that it was the vacation to such a peaceful place far away from hospital duties and the responsibility of saving patient's lives.

But deep down, she knew that it was Sasuke's presence that calmed her. He was what she had needed, plain and simple. It was a hard truth to face, but one Sakura decided to embrace. Was there any use fighting destiny? In fighting one's true nature?

Subconsciously, her hand began to drift closer to Sasuke's. He must not have been paying attention, because she was able to wrap it around his.

However, the male shinobi broke the contact almost instantly, as if her touch had seared his skin. "What are you doing?" he asked with sheer disgust.

Sakura looked down, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I just thought it would be more realistic if we, you know…" she tried to say.

Sasuke shook his head, a serious look on his face. "It's unnecessary. Please stop. There will be time for that later, in the village."

"Ok," Sakura acquiesced. His rejection had hurt her, even if it hadn't been surprising.

"At least answer my questions, then," she proposed. "I want to know more about what you've been up to all this time."

Sasuke seemed to mull over her suggestion. It was only when Sakura had given up on receiving a reply that he had finally decided to answer her. "Specifically?" he asked simply.

"Tell me about some of your battles," Sakura clarified. "If you're comfortable with it, that is. Are you really under attack this often?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yes. Even with various layers and methods of spreading disinformation, many people figure it out."

"How often?"

"It depends," Sasuke answered curtly. "Sometimes it's just a bunch of young, brash ninjas eager to prove themselves. Other times, it's desperate shinobi who claim they need my eyes for their 'righteous cause'. That type of stuff happens at least once a week, maybe more. It has become more tiring than you can imagine."

"And the other times?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I lack proof, but the others seem guided by an unseen intelligence. They're much less random…more coordinated; like those four. Those types have shown up every other month or so, like clockwork."

Sakura frowned, a chill racing down her spine. What the dark-haired shinobi had implied was a frightening to say the least. She had her doubts, though. It was quite possible that Sasuke was just being paranoid. On the other hand, the kunoichi found it difficult to ignore the surgical skill and efficiency displayed by the four ninja they had recently faced after re-uniting, a team they had barely managed to defeat.

"I suppose it's possible, Sasuke," Sakura found herself saying, deciding to reserve her judgement for the time being. She was there to evaluate Sasuke's condition on behalf of the Leaf just as much as she was there to satisfy the desires of her heart. "Anything else that comes to mind?"

"Those I have interrogated universally show signs of suppressed memory," Sasuke cryptically explained. "And that's not counting those who have committed suicide through secretive methods."

Sakura gasped in surprise. "Really?" she asked.

Sasuke nodded without making eye contact. "Yes, it's true," he explained. "Although it amounts to little more than intuition, technically."

Time passed as the female ninja mulled over everything she had just heard. The sun continued to blaze overhead, the wind playing its eerie song of dancing grass. The vast emptiness of the scene seemed to take on a new character entirely, emphasizing the emptiness and vulnerability of Sasuke's life on the run. Meanwhile, the comparatively dark forest behind them seemed to embody the looming danger of unknown enemies and the deep-rooted scars of the past.

"So, in other words," Sakura carefully began, "…you think someone may be targeting you. Someone who has the resources and skills to track your location, bribe or manipulate powerful shinobi into coming after you, and equipping them with the means to conceal their existence."

"It sounds like conspiracy when you put it that way," Sasuke quipped wryly. "Something Naruto would say."

Sakura chuckled slightly. "I guess so…still, it's worth investigating."

Sasuke shot her a glance. "Not exactly."

"What makes you say that?" a surprised Sakura asked.

"I have better things to do."

"Oh, do you now, Mr. Important?"

"Yes," Sasuke curtly stated, showing no reaction to her playful jibe. Then he was quiet for a long time, as if trying to decide whether or not to tell her.

"Were you going to tell me what that is, or just act all moody?" the kunoichi shot back.

"I'm investigating everything I can about Kaguya," Sasuke gave in. "Especially any information related to the Otsuki clan in general and their possible plans."

Sakura's mouth made an 'O' shape. Suddenly it all made sense. No wonder the Uchiha had been so secretive. Delving into unknowable and dangerous mysteries, such as those that pertained to the godlike clan of aliens known only as Otsuki, was undoubtedly dangerous business.

Sakura suddenly found herself thinking about the span of years since Sasuke had left the village for the second time. To her, the interval had been unbearable; she had missed him dearly and fallen into a deep depression. Yet the experience had at least been relatively safe and peaceful. Sasuke's time, on the other hand, must have been filled with countless near-fatal wounds, a grueling schedule of traveling, fighting and training, a complete lack of free time, and social isolation. Without a doubt, the man had probably worked even harder than Naruto, not to mention the fact that what he was doing was far more important for the world at large.

"Listen…" Sasuke suddenly blurted, his voice interrupting her thoughts, "…after today…don't stay with me. Don't follow me, just forget about me. It's safer that way. My path is not a pleasant one." As he spoke, the Uchiha stopped and gave the Haruno a serious look.

Sakura gulped. "But, Sasuke…" she began, "…if that's really true, then won't you need me?"

Sasuke looked away for a moment, then starred deeply into her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. This is my path; a path of redemption. I may die. Painfully. And if I do, then it would be justice."

To say that Sakura was paralyzed by the callousness of his words would have been a massive understatement. Her blood ran cold as if it had been turned to ice. Her heart pounded in her chest once more, and she felt moisture in her eyes. There were a thousand things she wanted to say to the Uchiha, swirling within her mind like a passionate hurricane of raw emotion. A thousand things Sakura wanted to explain to him, to make him understand what a self-righteous, selfish idiot he was being. Try as she might, however, the kunoichi could not make any of them leave her mouth. It was all she could do to silently fight the urge to cry while smashing something into a million pieces…preferably Sasuke himself. Her face became a forced mask of stoicism, though Sasuke's sigh indicated that some expression must have leaked from it.

"Someone's coming," the Uchiha deflected while rolling his eyes. "Act natural."

Sakura saw that he was correct. Two people had emerged from around a bend farther along the road. One was a beautiful woman in her twenties wearing a yukata, and the other was a plainly-dressed man carrying a stick. His attire was merely a transformation jutsu, while hers was not. Clearly, the male was a shinobi…although his reason for traveling with an ordinary citizen was anyone's guess…and no one's business.

"Oh Shun, you're hilarious!" Sakura blurted mirthfully while seizing Sasuke's hand in an iron-clad grip. She leaned her body against his with overly exaggerated infatuation as she laughed, her anger and hurt channeling itself into a catharsis of fantasy.

Sasuke flinched, clearly aggravated beyond measure. He didn't pull away from her, though; doing so would have meant shattering their carefully-crafted illusion. And much to his credit, the moody shinobi didn't push back against her vindictive death grip with hostility of his own, though the impulse was certainly tempting. Instead, he bore the misery with the same stoicism with which he had accepted the risks of his chosen path.

"You know that's why you love me," Sasuke managed, a forced smile appearing on his face. It looked authentic; almost creepy, in fact. Sakura would have found the whole situation amusing if she hadn't been so upset.

She joined in Sasuke's awkward smile as the other couple passed them with wary looks on their faces. Sakura briefly worried that their emotional outbursts may have blown their cover, but on second thought, she decided that making the other shinobi uncomfortable likely played in their favor.

The awkward moment eventually passed, and the duo stopped smiling. Sakura leaned away from the Uchiha, but did not let go of his hand.

"Let's continue like this," Sasuke said with a wince. "We're getting close, anyway."

"Yes, let's, Sasuke- _kun_ ," Saskura said with feigned cheerfulness, emphasizing the honorific.

Sasuke frowned, proving that the gesture had had the intended affect. The satisfaction eased Sakura's pain, though she couldn't help but feel guilty about it. Sasuke's closeness provided some small measure of comfort as well, though she was unable to fully enjoy that, either. A dark stormcloud of uncertainty had settled over her soul, muddling her myriad of feelings and complicating her thoughts.

Things had been easier back at the village. The pain of missing Sasuke had seemed unbearable at times, but the sting of rejection, she had recently learned, was far worse. When the kunoichi had been near him in the old days, she had always felt a glimmer of hope. Now Sakura was beginning to realize that that hope was merely a drug, a beautiful lie, an addiction numbing her to harsh reality. The more of it she received, the more she _needed_ more. Sakura was smart enough to see that such a cycle could not be sustained. As bad as things were now, as they had been before, as even worse they would be in the near future, they would pale in comparison to the eventual, terrible crash if she didn't cut herself off soon.

 _What have I gotten myself into?_ Sakura asked herself for what felt like the hundredth time in the past few days.

"It would have been nice," the pink-haired woman mused stoically, slackening her grip to a much more reasonable strength.

At first, Sasuke did not respond. As time passed and the couple began to walk closer to the hot spring resort, she began to think he hasn't going to answer at all.

"What would have?" Sasuke ventured.

Sakura emphatically shook her head, looking down to cover her closeness to sobbing.

"I'm sorry," she heard Sasuke say to her side.

The comment seemed utterly surreal to her. "For what?" she half laughed at herself, half complained. _I'm the one who keeps running back to you,_ Sakura thought, _even though I know what's going to happen every time. Kami, I'm still a foolish little girl after all._

Silence.

Sakura didn't look up at Sasuke: she was sure that his gaze would have been emotionless and cold. Like everything else, trying to read or understand him was pointless. The Uchiha was most likely staring at her with a combination pity and contempt, anyway. The kunoichi desperately did not want to see that.

The walk was long; seemingly stretching on for an eternity as Sasuke refused to elaborate. It seemed his patience had finally worn thin.


	4. Chapter 4

The resort town was tranquil and quaint, which was unsurprising, given its purpose and clientele. As Sakura took in the scenery, she saw sparse, loosely-grouped buildings made of natural materials such as stone and wood. The population was low, possibly numbering a few hundred, and that was counting both the residents and the staff. Resort buildings made up nearly two thirds of the total real-estate, but there were a few other businesses and homes comprising the other third.

As she walked alongside Sasuke through the village's main street, Sakura estimated that about half of the guests she had seen so far were shinobi. The quality of the transformations ranged from very poor to masterful. Those that Sakura could sense weren't the handiwork of any ninjas whose chakra signatures or appearances she recognized. The information only served to remind her of the fact that the place in which she found herself was paradoxically safe and extremely dangerous at the same time. It was best not to cause trouble, she reminded herself, which was probably why Sasuke had already been planning a supply run there. Even though his pursuers were now dead, it would still serve as an excellent place for the duo to rest up before going their separate ways.

"Remember, Akane, we're just here for a brief stop," Sasuke whispered, echoing her thoughts.

Sakura nodded, too emotionally exhausted to raise much of a protest.

Not much later, the pair of shinobi had made their way to a market area littered with small wooden stalls and shacks. Most of the merchants hawked curios and souvenirs, but there were several stores for basic sundries. Sasuke began to lead Sakura in that direction by her hand.

"Shun, you didn't have to do that," Sakura complained when they had walked away from the stand. The Uchiha had insisted on paying for the supplies, most of which had been intended for her return trip anyway.

Sasuke glanced around, seeing that there was no one within whisper-shot. "I can tell you've had nothing but food pills for the past week," he explained. "That's not healthy, Sakura."

The kunoichi bit her lip. She had to admit that her companion had a good point. Her proclivity for overworking herself and substituting with food pills instead of proper meals was well-established. What surprised her, though, was Sasuke's concern. In the past, he had shown no signs of caring about her well-being. What right did the pompous Uchiha have to start caring _now_ of all times, after all he had done to her, after all of the distance he had worked so hard to create between the two of them?

"You're not my guardian, Shun, I'll do what I…" Sakura began, cutting herself off. She had seen something in the background behind the one-armed shinobi that made her blood turn to ice.

The red glare of Sharingan.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, his voice far too much of a monotone for her to tell if he was genuinely concerned.

"Shun, you're not going to believe this," Sakura whispered back to him with a look of what she was sure was fright on her face, "but I just saw a Sharingan."

The Uchiha raised a cool, skeptical eyebrow. "Are sure about that?" he asked.

Sakura nodded. "I'm sure."

Sasuke seemed to consider the notion. "It's highly unlikely, but…" he started. "Where?"

"Eight o'clock, about a hundred feet behind you," Sakura replied with a careful stare, her eyes fixed on the man she thought she'd seen flash the kekkai genkkai of the Uchiha clan. His back was turned and he was standing casually with a group of other shoppers. His hair, skin color, and build were all perfectly average and nondescript—so much so that it was suspicious, making him ironically stand out.

Sasuke said, "We'll turn around and walk past. I'll use mine to scan the chakra signature."

Sakura shook her head. "No, it's too risky. Someone could see."

"True," Sasuke admitted, "but it's worth the risk."

Before she had a chance to argue, Sasuke had firmly turned around, pulling Sakura with him. The corners of her lips curled in a frown, but she continued to play the role of starry-eyed girlfriend.

"Third one from the right," Sakura informed him as they were passing, "by the incense stand with the flashy banner."

Sasuke slowed his walk and pretended to casually glance in that direction while shading his eyes with a hand. After making sure no one was looking, he activated the swirling red tomoe patterns in his eyes for an instant. Sakura looked around nervously, hoping that no one had noticed. It didn't seem like they had…or at least they weren't showing it.

The eyes turned off, converting back into a purple rinnegan shaded behind ebony locks and an ordinary iris.

"What did you see?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke waited until they had put the market stall far behind them. "I'm…not sure," he admitted. "I couldn't get a good read on him. Whoever he was, he had a very skillful transformation. The chakra signature wasn't familiar, either. But if he was an Uchiha, I would have been able to tell."

"That makes sense," Sakura replied. "It is possible for a non-Uchiha to have a Sharingan eye, though, like Kakashi-sensei."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. "Fair enough. There's not enough information to speculate beyond saying 'it's possible', though. What you saw could have been a trick, or maybe you were mistaken. Regardless, it's not worth the risk trying to confirm."

Sakura scowled at him, her inner Sakura raging. "I know what I saw," she huffed, pulling her hand away from him and stepping back.

The black-haired ninja shrugged non-chalantly. "I'm not saying I don't believe you," he explained. "It just seems impossible. Obito had a collection of the last Sharingan. With he and Madara's deaths, my original eyes and Itachi's should be the only ones left."

Sakura continued to glare.

A sigh. "I'll get our room. We had best keep to ourselves tonight." Sasuke turned away on his heel with an air of annoyance and walked swiftly towards the main building.

* * *

"It's nice," Sakura observed as she slid the door to her and Sasuke's room open.

She was right. The floor was made of well-varnished, smooth, elegant wood. The walls were painted with hand-brushed images of roses, petals, and calming nature motifs. There was one large bed—easily queen-sized, and it had luxurious-looking silk sheets. The furnishings were simple, but both practical and aesthetically-pleasing. All in all, the room looked like a romantic bedroom in a getaway resort should.

Sasuke gave a slight nod, though it was obvious he didn't really care. "It's acceptable," he said, walking right past Sakura and heading for the bathroom as he dispelled his transformation.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sakura complained, her muscles tensing. She stepped into the room, shut the door, and removed her own jutsu with puff of air. "What happened to ladies first?"

Sasuke smirked over his shoulder. "I've been fighting and running for more than a week straight."

Sakura froze, then slumped over in defeat as the bathroom door shut forcefully. Like always, the smartass Uchiha had a point. Plus, he'd taken a stab wound for her. She owed him. It was not a feeling the kunoichi liked.

 _All these years later, and he's still the one saving me,_ Sakura thought. _I'm pathetic._

Sakura heard the shower faucet turn on and stomped angrily outside. The 'backyard' of their room had an intimate charm but was way too small for training. The Haruno eventually settled on mediating next to their small, private pool, hoping the steam and sound of gently bubbling water would calm her.

Striking up the pose, Sakura concentrated for a few seconds with her eyes closed. The deep breaths were calming, and she let her muscles relax. It wasn't easy, but the pink-haired woman eventually found her stress beginning to melt away. The chaos and psychic trauma of the pitched battle with four shinobi, as well as the emotional battering she had inflicted on herself with Sasuke, still lingered. However, the kunoichi began to make progress at removing her earthly concerns and attachments.

The latter aspect was the harder one to deal with by far. Although she did her best, Sakura could not fully block the background noise of rushing water from Sasuke's shower. Instead, she found her mind wandering as images of Sasuke's wet, naked body burst unbidden to the forefront of her consciousness. Within seconds, Sakura felt herself flushing and was sure that her cheeks must have turned red.

She mentally cursed herself as she did her best to push the vivid imagery of Sasuke sensually cleaning his perfect form from her mind. Then Sakura forced her thoughts to fill with nothing but mantras and recitations of medical textbooks she had memorized. It was an effort of immense concentration, but the Haruno was able to pull it off…though just barely.

A deep breath in, and out. _I have become one with the void,_ Sakura mentally told herself. The burbling water of the spring was soothing, and she focused on it with the entire force of her will. Before long, the kunoichi began to feel as if nothing but her and the sound existed, though even that seemed to be a distant, raw _sensation,_ devoid of all meaning and judgement. It was if her awareness was impassive and impartial, merely existing without conscious thoughts. Sakura told herself that the few thoughts she did have weren't truly hers, but were merely an expression of one part of the universe recognizing itself.

"The femoral artery is a large artery in the thigh and the main arterial supply to the leg," Sakura heard someone whispering as if in a trance. "It enters the thigh from behind the inguinal ligament as the common femoral artery, a continuation of the external iliac artery," the voice continued.

As it spoke on and on, listing medical trivia, even the words slipped away until all Sakura could perceive was unidentifiable sound. Even concepts, such as 'human' and 'voice' and 'words' melted away. All the woman knew was that she existed, and she had impressions of senses.

At last, Sakura had found peace. No longer was she a lonely, clinically depressed woman whose heart ached with unrequited love. No longer was she a world-weary shinobi who had already seen far too much suffering and death for her youthful age. No longer did she bear the heavy burden of paradoxically nurturing and reaping life.

No longer did she think of Sasuke.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" an intense, masculine voice reached out to her.

Everything Sakura had built instantly came crashing down. Her serene numbness burned away as if blasted by one of the voice's fireball jutsu, returning self-awareness, sensation, thoughts, stress, and everything else to her mind.

It was agony by comparison.

Sakura forced herself to open her eyes. The rush of sensation was overwhelming at first, but she fought through it.

"I'm fine," the kunoichi lied as she glanced up at Sasuke. She had tried to keep her tone friendly, and half-succeeded.

The Uchiha had changed from his usual attire to a lose set of plain cloth pants and a shirt with the left sleeve tied in a knot. He had re-done his transformation and wore a vacant look on his face, though one eyebrow was raised doubtfully.

"You've been there for hours," Sasuke stated by way of explanation.

Sakura blinked, then noticed that the shinobi was right. The sun had dipped lower in the sky, and now cast faint, golden luminance over the area. The air had grown more chilled, and the wind had calmed. It was dusk.

"Oh, I was just mediating," Sakura said with a forced, disarming smile. "No need to worry, I must have just lost track of time." The behavior was automatic, and she found herself unsurprised that she couldn't help but try to keep Sasuke from worrying, even though it was obvious that the effort was wasted.

Sasuke clicked his throat and turned away as if disinterested. "You should get cleaned up. They'll be serving dinner soon," he said commandingly.

Ordinarily, Sakura would have taken issue with him trying to boss her around like that. However, she could not ignore the emptiness of her own stomach, especially when it groaned audibly, removing her only chance for an excuse. Besides, if she was stuck in this situation, she was resolved to at least get something out of it. If she ate dinner with Sasuke, it would at least give them a chance to catch up, even if the Uchiha's persistent dodging of detailed conversation made the attempts difficult. Besides, having a meal in the Inn's public restaurant would support their cover, anyway.

"All right, Sasuke," Sakura replied as cheerfully as she could manage. She stood and brushed swiftly past the him as she headed for the shower.

* * *

"Right this way," the waitress said, gesturing at the two disguised shinobi as she ushered them into the cozy dining quarters.

Sakura noted that the woman's voice was not as energetic as she might have expected. In fact, she seemed...subdued, if anything. There was a strange glaze in her eyes, and she moved slowly and deliberately, as if dazed. Even stranger still was the fact that she didn't seem tired, either. There was a kind of tense alertness in her frame that set Sakura on edge.

Ultimately, the pink-haired woman decided to ignore the suspicious details. It was too easy to chalk them up to a stressful day or a mistake caused by the low, intimate lighting of the room. Sakura could not suppress a jolt of annoyance and jealousy; even acting like that, the waitress was probably much better looking than her.

As such, Sakura didn't say anything as she stepped past the other woman. Sasuke didn't either, though he did incline his head politely.

The main interior of the restaurant was highly similar to the private rooms in terms of decorum. In addition to the soft lights, it was adorned with a wide variety of beautiful, calming works of art. The wooden tiling was clean and elegant, and compartments draped in lush cushions and pillows framed the tables.

"Last one on the right," the server drawled lazily.

As the duo started walking in the appointed direction, the low murmur of private conversation instantly ceased. all eyes in the room seemed to flicker briefly over the pair, before hurriedly looking away as if trying to conceal their interest. One man held his ceramic cup of sake frozen in midair, then glanced casually away as if pretending to find something else just as interesting.

Sakura gulped. Saying that something was wrong would have been a grand understatement. Yet, there was nothing she could do without attracting even more attention except retreating to their private seating. She shared a knowing glance with Sasuke before taking an extremely comfortable seat at the table opposite him.

Despite the stressful circumstances, she found herself enjoying the light, pink kimono she wore. It had been a long time since she had luxuriated like this. The woman usually wore her ninja fatigues or medical scrubs to bed after collapsing from overworked exhaustion every night, only to change directly into another pair. She guessed that Sasuke, who now wore a matching azure male version of the kimono, had similar experiences.

The waitress spoke a few words and then silently passed the duo a pair of menus before leaving. Sakura looked around and saw that their position kept them out of sight of most of the other patrons. The few that were still capable of seeing them resumed their normal activities, continuing as if nothing had happened.

"Shun…" Sakura began.

The Uchiha nodded. "Something isn't right," he confirmed.

"What do you think we should do?"

Sasuke took a sharp breath. "We should eat and head back without attracting too much attention to ourselves," he reiterated. "I thought that coming here would allow us to blend in. either we're getting rusty, or…"

"Or what?" Sakura asked with a raised eyebrow. Already knowing the answer. She wanted to hear him admit it.

Sasuke was silent for several moments. "Or there really is another doujutsu user here."

Sakura wanted to gloat but settled for a slight smirk instead. The prospect of another sharingan wielder being in the area deeply unsettled her. The kunoichi wasn't quite sure, but she thought she may have seen a slight crack in Sasuke's mask. He was worried. And if that were the case…

An icy chill ran down her spine, though she tried not to show it.

"I sensed genjutsu on the woman," Sasuke clarified. "She showed all the signs. I've hypnotized enough people to know."

Sakura made a mental note to ask Sasuke just how many times he had done so, and why. There were more pressing things to discuss at the moment, however.

"Then we ought to release her, and see what's really going on!" Sakura blurted under her breath.

The rogue ninja shook his head. "No. The surge of chakra that would occur in the release would also reveal our identities. If enemies of mine are here, they'll most likely have a sensory type, in addition to the sharingan user. Anything more than genin-level ninjutsu will carry our distinct chakra signature."

Sakura bit her lip and nodded. She didn't like it, but the man was correct. It was too risky to do anything. The best option was to hope that they wouldn't get discovered, and that the genjutsu caster would release the woman without hurting her. Anything else might put even more innocent lives in danger. Plus, the kunoichi didn't like their odds against all the other shinobi at the resort, even with their hokage-level (and beyond, in Sasuke's case) abilities. Especially given Sasuke's no-killing rule, which she had to admit possessed a certain degree of charm.

The kunoichi frowned, then looked at menu dejectedly. Damn the Uchiha and his cold, pragmatic intelligence. Sakura didn't think of herself as a dumb person; in fact, she knew herself to be quite intelligent. Sasuke, though, was on an entirely different level. His ruthless calculus was brutally efficient and logical to fault. She found herself admiring it as much as she hated it. Truly, it was a trait that mirrored her overall feelings about the shinobi.

"The tonkatsu ramen looks good," Sakura chimed with as much cheerfulness as she could manage. If they were going to put on an act, she might as well double down.

Sasuke smiled, or at least performed his approximation of the act. "Please," he complained with a profoundly serious eye-roll. "Don't talk to me about ramen."

The duo shared a laugh that was half-forced (decidedly less so on her end) and went about their business without whispering any more messages involving shinobi-oriented topics. The performance was awkward, as it quickly become evident that neither had much experience with the opposite sex at all, particularly in the arena of adult dating. Sakura had secluded herself to the point where her friends, especially Naruto, had begun to refer to her as a shut-in. And Sasuke…well, she doubted he ever spoke more than two words to half of the people he had met over the years, which couldn't have been many.

It quickly became apparent that the only way they could keep up the charade was to continue discussing ninja-related subjects. They started slipping into their secret shinobi code language, which used innocuous phrases and pre-set conversational paths to relay information that would be undetectable to outside observers. At first, Sasuke had some trouble following along with her, since the intricacies of the code were ever-changing. He hadn't had a chance to brush up ever since his self-imposed exile, but did eventually catch on. It was still a somewhat clumsy affair. At best, the two could convey vague impressions and generic ideas.

Still, Sakura found herself with answers to many of the questions she had been burning to ask. She pressed her advantage, knowing that Sasuke would be unable to deflect her curiosity for fear of seeming cold to his pretend wife. He did shoot her several subtle glares over the course of the meal, though, to which she replied with mischievous winks.

It seemed that Sasuke had spent a great deal of time training in secret and had made significant progress in developing his rinnegan powers. In addition to planetary devastation, she had learned, the Uchiha had developed a unique teleportation skill that allowed him to swap places with another object or person he looked at. It was this ability that had allowed him to save her life, apparently. Other powers, such as Nagato's mechanical transformations, ninjutsu absorption, and soul-ripping seemed to elude him. Sasuke theorized that this was possibly due, in part, to the fact that he lacked senju chakra, which both Nagato and Madara had possessed.

However, the last Uchiha was not without the means to protect himself from the hordes of reckless shinobi who were willing to kill for his eyes. Sasuke had honed his visual genjutsu, and while he would never be able to wield it in the same time-dilating fashion as his departed brother, Sakura learned that he had formed his own unique twist: the ability to implant or alter memories with a fair degree of accuracy. It was this skill that had allowed him to hide for so long without eventually being forced to unleash his full power. Those that had seen his susanoo, amaterasu, or chidori had had their minds wiped of the experience, suggestions to spread disinformation and confusion about Sasuke to others existing in their stead.

This information matched the reports Sakura had skimmed: it seemed half of the world believed Sasuke Uchiha to be dead, while the remaining half wanted him so. Of those half, the reports the Leaf had received were entirely contradictory. Nearly simultaneous eye-witness reports placed Sasuke at opposite ends of the world, and if the conspiracy theorists were to be believed, Sasuke had done everything from re-started the Akatsuki to ascended to Madara's level of shinobi godhood with a second rinnegan and six paths power. It was only due to a combination of pure luck and the efforts of several highly-trained Leaf jonin that Tsunade had acquired accurate information about the enigmatic man. Clearly, whatever Sasuke was doing, Sakura knew it was highly effective, just as she had expected.

The particulars of the situation troubled her, though. The idea that Sasuke could influence people's actions by deceiving their very memories was very frightening, indeed. For a brief moment, Sakura wondered if even she was under the influence of his spell.

"Shun," the kunoichi started, suddenly serious. Her eyes flickered between the Uchiha and her food several times before Sakura continued. "How do I know you haven't done the same to me?" She was no longer speaking in code.

For a split second, Sasuke showed a hint of real emotion. Sakura would have placed the expression as 'intense hurt', though she wasn't certain.

The black-haired ninja's mouth opened wordlessly, then jerked closed. He repeated the process a few more times, as if he, for once, couldn't come up with a curt response.

"I…" Sasuke started, unable to meet her gaze. He picked at his food for a moment, then turned back to her. "I wouldn't do something like that to you, Akane," he spoke with a low intensity that surprised her. "Though, you're right to question me, after all the things I've done," he followed up with a wry smirk at his own expense.

Sakura's heart did a flip, and she felt sick to her stomach. It hadn't been her intention to injure the man's feelings in such a way. She was glad that she had asked, though. The sincerity in Sasuke's voice was enough for her. Besides, she supposed, if Sasuke did genjutsu her (which she was particularly adept at resisting, due to her specialty in chakra control), then he most likely would have simply made her forget him. Still, there was a lingering doubt in her mind.

"But why not, Sasuke?" she asked incredulously. "You could have had me forget you."

The kunoichi regretted her words almost as soon as they had left her mouth. Unfortunately, simple regret was not enough to somehow take them back.

Sasuke turned even more pale than normal and frowned. Sakura felt like the whole world had frozen in that moment. The subtle murmur of hushed couples faded into nothingness. It was as if she wads meditating again, only this time, nothing existed other than Sasuke and his angry features.

"Tch!" Sasuke growled, the noise infuriated and harsh. He slammed his chopsticks on the table and stood up. "I'm getting some air," he spoke, his voice sharp and emotionless. Then, before Sakura could react, he pivoted on his heel and strode away.

The kunoichi stared in wonderment for a moment, then leaned back and ran a hand over her face as she fought back sobs. Great. She'd gone and fucked everything up again. This had been her one chance at a very, very faint hope of reconnecting with Sasuke…and she'd gone and blown it by pushing the Uchiha too far.

Deeper still was the pain of knowing that she had trampled on Sasuke's character with her implication, of which she was supposed to be the sole champion, the only person in the world (other than Naruto) who seemed to care. Sakura should have known that Sasuke wasn't as bad of a person as everyone made him out to be. It would have been excessively out of character for him to take advantage of her with his memory alteration.

The realization of what she had done struck her like a ton of bricks. She began to breathe heavily as tears glistened her eyes. Sakura had forgiven Sasuke long ago for his attempts on her life. Even more importantly, she had forgiven him for putting her in a genjutsu after the battle with Kaguya.

Evidently, Sasuke hadn't forgiven himself.

"Idiot!" Sakura cursed, unsure if she meant herself, Sasuke, or both. _Stupid girl,_ inner Sakura berated inside her head. _What on earth would possess you to be so insensitive! He's got the world against him. You're supposed to have his back! How can you honestly sit there and pretend that you love him?_

She reached for the untouched bottle of complementary table sake that the waitress had placed there earlier before. The enraged, self-pitying kunoichi filled both her and Sasuke's cups to the brim and downed them immediately. The alcohol stung her throat, but she barely noticed. Unsurprisingly, the woman took after her mentor's acquired taste for sake.

Sakura blinked away the sudden rush of dizziness. "To betrayal," she whispered to herself as she prepared another round.

* * *

Approximately thirty minutes had passed before the waitress had come looking for her, yet Sakura had already managed to get herself completely drunk in that time. As it turned out, the kunoichi was an adorable lightweight, especially while pity-drinking.

"Are you ok, miss?" the waitress asked.

"Yes, yes," Sakura lied. She shook her head a little, removing the unfocused haze. "I mean, no," she said, wiping her eyes. "Where's Sas-I mean, Shun?"

"Oh, your partner left a note saying that he felt ill and went back to your room," the woman replied with a cautious look. "Do you need help?"

"No, I think I—" Sakura smiled as she attempted to wave the waitress off. The room swam as she tried to stand, and her stumble told her that it was obvious she had been wrong. The kunoichi couldn't bring herself to care, though.

"Here, I can help you get back to him," the woman said, nearly as dazedly as her.

Sakura didn't relish the idea of facing Sasuke again, but she had little room to argue. "Ok, please, thank you," she said as sweetly as she could.

Minutes later, Sakura was standing in front of her room with barely any memories of arriving there. She knocked on the door a little roughly, then remembered that she had a key. The waitress was nowhere to be found, so Sakura let herself in and then clumsily closed the door.

"Ssshhhunnn?" she asked at length while stumbling into the dark room.

There was no reply.

It was just as well. Sakura was tired, so tired, and could only think about the soft mattress in front of her, and how sleeping the night away would be much easier.

Without a touch of her usual feminine grace, Sakura flopped on the bed and kicked the sheets into submission. She became a messy tangle of limbs, hair, and bedsheets as she tried her best to ignore the electric tingle in her body and fall asleep.

"Sasuke…" she whimpered without realizing it as she clutched a random pillow and pulled it tight against her chest.

* * *

The next thing Sakura knew, there was a presence in the room. Her eyes shot open despite her drunkenness (which had faded into a mere buzz by that point) just in time to see the sliding door to the spa area close with extreme gentleness. Evidently, her trained shinobi senses were good enough to pick up even the slightest sound no matter what circumstances she slept in. Despite Sasuke's efforts not to wake her, Sakura had been alerted all the same.

The interruption of sleep annoyed her, but Sakura was glad to at least know that Sasuke was ok. She had begun to grow worried. Sitting up, the kunoichi called his name through the screen.

The shadow on the other side hesitated, then walked away. Sakura groggily rose to follow it, but was stopped when she noticed something. There, over her exposed and splayed-out legs was a deep, black-blue cloak: Sasuke's.

Sakura instantly blushed in embarrassment once she processed the implication. It wasn't the thought of Sasuke seeing her that way, of seeing any part of her body, including undergarments, that bothered her. No, she felt ashamed to be seen by him in such a fashion for the simple fact that it made her feel like a classless and unattractive lush.

At least her legs were warm.

Sakura stood with a smile despite herself, appreciating the uncharacteristically kind gesture. She didn't feel like she deserved it, though, after what she had said to the Uchiha.

Sakura spent a few minutes cleaning herself up and gathering the courage to go outside. She didn't want to disturb the man, but she also felt that she owed him an apologetic word of thanks. Checking the clock, she saw that it was nearly midnight. She had slept away four hours, which explained why her stupor had downgraded to slight tipsiness. There were certain perks to being a superhuman warrior, after all.

The door slid open and the kunoichi stepped outside. There was a bitter chill in the air, and her breath fogged from her mouth. Sakura shivered and wrapped her arms around her thin-kimono-wrapped body as she looked around, spying Sasuke sitting in a meditative pose at the other end of the small space.

"Shun," she reiterated. "I'm awake."

"I can see that," he replied, opening one eye. "How are you feeling?"

"A little buzzed," Sakura replied, skirting the edge of the hot spring as she walked closer. "I owe you an apology."

Sasuke looked up at her. "Sit," he requested, gesturing at the mats arrayed in a semi-circle around a fire pit with lumber ready to go.

Sakura hesitated, suppressing a shiver, but eventually acquiesced. As soon as she had, Sasuke leaned over and touched one of the logs with his finger. A flash of chidori ignited the log, which eventually went fully ablaze.

The blast of hot air from the fire soothed Sakura's skin, and she found herself purring contentedly. The light of it illuminated the scene and let her see that Sasuke had switched back to his shinobi attire.

"Thank you," Sakura said across the fire.

"Don't mention it," came the unfeeling reply.

Sakura sighed. "Look, Sasuke, I'm…"

"Shut up."

Sakura blinked. She had grown accustomed to directness and casual disregard from Sasuke, but she hadn't expected this.

"Just shut up." Sasuke said with a frown. "You don't need to apologize for anything."

Sakura stared in puzzlement for what felt like years as thoughts and feelings churned in her head. "Why do you say that?"

Sasuke shook his head. "You think too highly of me," he stated. "I overreacted. I deserve your skepticism. I deserve your scorn, because deep down, I'm not a very good person, and I know it."

Sakura felt sick for the second time that night. The inherent wrongness of Sasuke's words reverberated against the foundation of her very being. It was all she could do to huddle next to the fire calmly and resist the outburst. Whether the outburst would have been anger, sadness, or something else, the medic-nin did not know. Part of her wanted to scream at Sasuke for being such a colossal fool. The other half of her just wanted to weep at the futility of it all. Somewhere between the two was the voice that urged her to just reach out to the Uchiha and console him with her body.

The kunoichi listened to all three voices, and ended up scooting closer to Sasuke around the rim of the fire pit. "That's not true," she said without looking at him. It was easier to stare into the flames.

Sasuke chuckled for the first time she could remember, the sound simultaneously rich and bitter. "You're the only one who feels that way. Other than Naruto, that is, but that's only because he's a loser."

"Maybe they're all wrong," Sakura offered. "No," she stated, more firmly this time. "They _are_ all wrong. They don't know you like we do, Sasuke. Like _I_ do…"

Sasuke harrumphed. "And what do you know about me, Sakura?" he spat.

Sakura didn't know how to respond to that, so she closed her eyes and listened to the sound of crackling embers, bubbling water, and night insects. She thought back to all of her experiences with the last Uchiha…the feelings of loss when he had joined Oorochimaru, the rage at his evil actions with the Akatsuki, her murderous intent towards him…there was enough pain there to fill whole libraries with descriptions of it.

Yet for all the suffering, there had been just as many positives. Sakura remembered how hard she had cried after discovering the truth of the massacre…how she had hadn't slept for weeks. She recalled the testimonies during Sasuke's trials that he had spared as many lives as possible while working for Oorochimaru, minimizing the death toll wherever possible. She remembered the way he had selflessly stood up to a goddess, when it would have been much more tempting for him to simply give in to the infinite Tsukuyomi, to live in an idyllic dream world where his brother, his parents, his whole clan were still alive. If anyone had stood any more to gain from Madara and Kaguya's scheme, and had had any less to lose, it had been Sasuke.

"You are a good person," Sakura nearly whispered. "Even if you don't want to believe it at times."

Sasuke brooded for a while, and Sakura was patient with him. She knew that things like this were difficult for the other shinobi, and she patiently gave him his space. He would talk when he was ready.

Minutes had passed in silence before the inscrutable Sasuke eventually replied. "Either you're the stupidest woman I've ever met, or you're far too forgiving for your own good."

Sakura winced, her pride injured. Something told her that Sasuke hadn't really meant it, though.

"I'm not a little girl anymore, Sasuke," she scolded him. "I can tell that you don't really believe that. You're just trying to push me away, for a reason I can barely imagine."

Sasuke pulled his signature move and looked away, feigning disinterest. "Think whatever you want. That doesn't make it true."

"Do you want to know what I really think, Sasuke?"

"I don't care."

Sakura ignored him. She turned to face the Uchiha, her gaze boring into the side of his face. Perhaps it was the lingering effects of the alcohol, or perhaps it was simply a false sense of bravado instilled by the adrenaline coursing through her, but the kunoichi spoke evenly and calmly, without the slightest hint of regret or hesitance.

"I think you're an amazingly strong person," she began with a deep breath. "I think you got dealt the shittiest of all hands a person can possibly be dealt in life. The fact that you came out of it sane is a fucking miracle. Sure, you've made some mistakes in life, but for every foul thing you've done, you gave back tenfold.

"I know you know that I know you care about people's lives. Even when you fought Naruto to the death, it was because you thought you were doing the right thing for the world. As a result, you lost your arm, and no one even cared enough to offer you a replacement. You paid for your mistakes…hell, you're still paying for them. Yes, you betrayed the village, but they betrayed you. By all rights, the score is more than settled, yet here you are wandering the land and protecting the Leaf from afar while doing work that could one day save the planet from another Otsuki attack. Naruto may be beloved by all, but he was set up for success from the beginning. I know you feel its unfair, and that's because it is.

"Now your life has become a living hell. You're alone, and the whole world is out to get you for one reason or another. It would be easy for you to kill anyone who tried to hurt you, yet you do not. You risk maiming and death to avoid hurting people. I've heard the stories, too—a red-eyed, katana wielding vigilante who stopped a sex trafficking ring in the land of earth, protected villages from bandits in the land of grass, and freed slaves in the hidden cloud. I believe those stories are true, because I know you, Sasuke. You're the kindest and most caring person I've ever met. It's because you were the victim of the ultimate crime that you selflessly sought power at the cost of your own soul. You didn't want anyone else to experience the same thing.

"I've had years to reflect on this, Sasuke, and if there's a single thing I figured out, it's this: no matter how cruel your methods were, or how clouded things got along the way, your intentions were pure. Being with you for the last few days has only confirmed my hypothesis.

"So what I'm saying, Sasuke, is that there is someone who understands you. There is someone who cares. You don't have to be alone any longer. I'm here for you."

There was a tense silence as Sakura's chest heaved. Her whole body shook from the powerful emotional release. The silence was oppressively disorienting, deafening. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Sasuke no matter how hard she tried. Instead, Sakura waited patiently for the Uchiha's response. Her impassioned plea had surged with hope. Even if her words made only the slightest chink in the man's stoic armor, the kunoichi would count it as a victory. It would be worth all the sleepless nights, all the loneliness, and all the heartache.

Much to Sakura's relief, she got exactly what she had hoped for.

Sasuke sniffled.

It was such a small thing, but it made Sakura's heart beat that much faster. A euphoric feeling rushed through every pore in her body and she had to resist the urge to smile. While she couldn't see Sasuke's face, she knew that her words had affected him: she had never heard the Uchiha sniffle once in his entire life.

"You're wrong," Sasuke choked out.

"Oh? I don't think so, Sasuke," Sakura said coolly. "I think I'm dead right."

No response.

"I know you're hurting. I know it's difficult for you handle things like this, but it's not your fault. You just have to let me in, Sasuke, and I can help you. I wore myself ragged studying mental health and trauma theory alongside my ninjutsu. So please, let that be worth something. Let me help you."

Sasuke brushed more hair in front of his eyes, then attempted a scoff. "I don't deserve your admiration."

Sakura shrugged, even though she knew he couldn't see it. Her euphoric rush and pounding heart was too strong to be overcome by her nervousness and fear that the Uchiha would say no, so the words kept pouring out before she could process them.

"Maybe not. But this has nothing to do with admiration, Sasuke. I know you'll never feel the same way about me as I feel about you. It was difficult, but I've accepted that. I don't want or expect that from you anymore, Sasuke. What you _deserve_ may or may not be admiration, but you definitely deserve a friend, at least."

Sasuke's jaw quivered in the firelight, and he seemed to be considering something. Sakura let him have his space, thankful for the chance to unburden her soul.

Long minutes passed in silence, save for the ambient sound of the evening. Sakura closed her eyes again and relaxed, the tipsy feeling washed away by the seriousness of the conversation. She listened with baited breath for any sound from Sasuke, any sign that she truly was getting through to him.

When it became apparent at length that the Uchiha wasn't going to say anything, the kunoichi sighed, disappointed. Still, she supposed that she couldn't blame the man. What she had thrown at him was undoubtedly a lot to process.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts," Sakura spoke. She cast Sasuke a glance as she stood up. The shinobi was still pointedly avoiding her gaze, though his frame was tight. His remaining hand flexed back and forth, an outlet for the maelstrom of thoughts that was no doubt swirling in the Uchiha's head.

Sakura took a deep breath and walked back into the hotel room. Turning her back on the man was among the hardest things she'd ever had to do, but she knew it was for the best. The kunoichi may not have received the response she'd wanted, but it felt as if she had made progress. Well, most likely, anyway. It was possible that Sasuke would simply retreat even further into his shell. In all honesty, this thought terrified her…but it was a risk she was willing to take. If Sasuke continued down the path he was on, Sakura knew it would be a slow, painful, miserable atrophy.

The pink-haired woman could scarcely believe what had just happened. Sakura tried to go about her nightly routine as best she could without letting her thoughts linger on the conversation they'd just had with mixed success. Minutes stretched like days, but she eventually made her way into a set of pajamas and set up a sleeping mat conjured through one of her ninja scrolls.

Just as the Haruno was about to lie down, there was a knock at the door.

"Are you decent?" she heard Sasuke's voice ask. It sounded strained.

"Yes," she replied carefully.

The screen door slid open, revealing the form of Sasuke. He seemed to struggle with taking a step forward, then gave up. His arm twitched with restless energy, and he could not meet her gaze.

If distraught was personified, in that moment, it would have been Sasuke.

Sakura was honestly confused. She hadn't expected a reaction like this. "I'll let you have the real bed, since you took care of me when I was-"

"Tell me," Sasuke blurted suddenly.

Sakura was taken aback. "Tell you what?" she asked.

Sasuke stomped heedlessly forward, ignoring the open screen door. He closed the gap between himself and Sakura faster than the kunoichi could blink. She jerked a bit, startled as he came within a couple feet of her. Cold air was leaking into the room and his boots had scuffed the floor with loud noises, but the man didn't seem to care. It was clear that all that existed to the Uchiha in that moment was Sakura.

"Tell me," Sasuke repeated as he slowly rose his head to look at her straight in her two eyes with his one. "Tell me why you care so much about me."

"Sasuke, I…"

"Tell me, Sakura," Sasuke barked again. A hand shot up to his face and flipped the locks of ebony hair away from his permanent rinnegan. His right eye flashed crimson, the little black tomoes swirling energetically within. Yet it was not just sharingan that colored that eye, but bloodshot irritation within the sclera itself.

"Please."

His voice was pleading, and Sakura knew that the haunting look in his eyes of sheer desperation would haunt her for all her days to come. Her voice caught in her throat.

It was clear that the Uchiha wanted to remember what she was about to say, wanted to immortalize the memory by burning every minute detail to the forefront of his brain with photographic accuracy through the power of the dead Uchiha bloodline.

Sakura had a sudden urge to appease him, to satiate that desperation with the words that both knew he wanted to hear. For a moment she considered going through with it, but then a lance of pain shot into her heart.

"Oh Sasuke," she practically whimpered, her words breathy and barely audible. "You can't ask me to do this."

A pause.

"You know the answer as well as I do, Sasuke. There's no point in me spelling it out. You can't…it's too cruel to admit…" she said, degenerating into a tearful sob.

" _Please,_ Sakura," Sasuke begged. "I need this. More than you could possibly understand."

Sakura stared back for a moment, then wiped away her tears and nodded. "Ok. I'll do it."

Sasuke sighed, and it seemed like ten tons of stress lifted off his shoulders.

"Sasuke Uchiha, I lo-"

Sakura was cut off as the door to their private room exploded inward, wood chips, bamboo, and screen material flying violently in every direction.

Sasuke and Sakura looked up, each with a shocked expression on their face. There stood a man wearing a ninja vest, fatigues, a metal headband with unidentifiable, scratched-out markings, and holding a hand scythe with attached chain.

"He was right, it's Sasuke Uchiha," the man blurted over his shoulder. "Get him!"


	5. Chapter 5

The man made it hallway across the distance between him and Sasuke before the latter was able to compose himself. Even then, all he did was fix the baleful red glare of sharingan upon the shinobi. The tomoes swirled as the Uchiha's irises flashed.

Suddenly, the man seized up, convulsing as if frozen in pain. Sakura didn't know what he was seeing, but she figured it must have been bad, because he was completely immobilized. His sickle was raised high and he managed to keep his balance but was otherwise defenseless.

The next thing she knew, the kunoichi was charging at the paralyzed ninja with a cry of "Shannaro!" Her fist struck him solidly in the chest, and he flew violently backwards through the open door and into the hallway. Other shinobi ducked out of the way as the man's body passed them and crumpled in a heap, his face and limbs still displaying dumb shock.

Sakura's chest heaved, anger roaring through her. The spirits could literally not have picked a more inconvenient time for her and Sasuke to be attacked. She drew a kunai in each hand and growled, putting up a defensive posture in front of Sasuke, who still seemed sluggish for some reason.

It was a lucky thing that she did. A mixed barrage of shuriken and kunai sailed into the room, having been thrown around the corners by her opponents. Sakura's hands blurred into motion, becoming spinning wheels of steel occasionally interrupted by the flash of sparks as she parried the oncoming missiles.

This process only lasted a few seconds before something caught her eye: a kunai that swerved past her at an angle too wide to possibly hit her. One of her opponents had snuck the weapon through her field of perception while she had been preoccupied with the other weapons. What trailed behind the knife, attached by a thin strand of ninja wire, was something that made her blood run cold: a paper bomb, already lit.

Time seemed to slow as she saw the weapon begin to explode. Sakura knew that she wasn't fast enough to dodge the attack, especially not after having seen it so late. The kunoichi had been thoroughly outwitted by her opponents. Perhaps if she had been more properly rested and hadn't recently undergone an emotional ordeal…then perhaps she would have been able to deal with the situation. However, as things stood, the woman had no chance.

As Sakura tried to turn away, deciding to at least try to dodge, something yanked her backwards. Her world became a dizzying blur as her body flew at lightning speed through the air, crashing through the bamboo sliding door and into the cold night outside. It was only when she ceased moving that Sakura realized Sasuke's one arm was wrapped around her waist.

A moment later, the interior of the hotel room went up in orange flames. Their heat licked at her face, the blowback causing her hair to whip around violently as debris cut dozens of tiny slices into her skin. Sakura didn't notice the pain, though. Between her chakra control and combat experience, she was more than well enough equipped to handle it.

"Thank you, Sasuke," Sakura blinked. She hated to admit it, but the kunoichi was honestly surprised that Sasuke had bothered to save her. The Uchiha had clearly been too stunned to move at first, and carrying her would only have slowed his incredible speed down by a significant factor, especially given that he lacked a secondary arm. It would have been far easier to leave her to fend for herself.

Sasuke nodded curtly back to her. Whether it was because he didn't care for her thanks or because he hadn't expected any, Sakura wasn't sure.

With a flick of his head, the ninja had brushed the long set of bangs that normally covered his rinnegan to the side. There was no use in hiding it now. Better to have the extra perceptive power that it would grant.

He drew his katana so quickly that Sakura imagined it might have been in his hands the entire time. Then Sasuke pivoted to one side and spread his hands out in an arc. Dozens of little darts of chidori flew out in a wave, seemingly at empty air.

Only the air wasn't empty. A pair of shinobi had emerged, one stone and one cloud. The darts struck them before they could act, causing one to seize up and distracting the other as she contorted every way imaginable, just barely managing to dodge them.

The woman smirked and started weaving signs, but there was a bizarre shift in the air. A wave of alien chakra settled over the scene. Sasuke was now standing behind the woman, an ordinary kunai dropping to the ground where he had been before.

The kunoichi's eye went wide, but before she could spin, Sasuke had slammed the back of her head with the butt end of his katana hilt, knocking her unconscious.

Meanwhile, the woman's partner had recovered. With groan, he managed to swing his iron rod at Sasuke, chips of earth flying from the ground and molding themselves into the shape of a massive, cylindrical club as it went. The blow was all strength and no finesse: a bad match-up for the last Uchiha. He blurred again as he leaped back, then surged forward. Chidori raced along the edge of his blade. There was another sword stroke, and the iron rod was severed mere inches from the man's fingers. The massive chunk of earth collapsed with a dull thud as the stone shinobi sputtered disbelievingly. Sasuke didn't give him a chance to recuperate, instead knocking the shinobi unconscious with a genjtusu of sleeping.

Sakura would have marveled at the efficiency and beauty of his motions, but she found herself pressed as a gang of three ninja leaped over the fence and rushed her. She didn't get a chance to see what village they were from, but whoever they were, they must have been decent taijutsu fighters. She sparred back and forth with them for several moments, fists colliding with hard blocks or redirecting palms. Their bodies seemed to become liquid in motion, flowing and leaping and whirling and dancing with rapid bursts of counter-maneuvers.

Almost immediately, Sakura had been able to dispatch one of the assailants. He crashed into the hot spring pool, a victim of her grapple and throw technique. As the man leaped out of and on top of the water, his hands trying to form signs, Sakura saw Sasuke casually lean down and slap his hand onto the surface of the pool. Chidori racked the body of water, causing the man to sizzle and collapse after several moments of struggling. Then he floated unconscious on the surface, twitching occasionally as little aftershocks of lighting flared up.

Sakura smiled in satisfaction, then saw Sasuke blur again as more shinobi closed in for the kill. Turning her gaze back to her own pair of attackers, Sakura tried to convince herself that Sasuke would be fine without her.

It did not take long for the Haruno to knock out her other two opponents. They were good, sure, but she had faced an Akatsuki member and a literal goddess. Sakura might not have been as grossly skilled and overpowered as her two best friends, but she had at least achieved Kage level talent. The ninjas in front of her, chunin or jonin at best, could not match her abilities and were summarily flung thirty feet backwards. They crashed through multiple rows of hotel fences before rolling to a stop. If they had been ordinary civilians, they would surely have been dead. Luckily, they were shinobi infused with chakra. Sakura, a medic-nin, knew they could handle the abuse.

The kunoichi turned to Sasuke and saw that he was wrapping up his own fight as well. The Uchiha's fingers flashed to his lips in a 'shhh' gesture as he breathed a burst of rapidly expanding fire at the unsuspecting back of a ninja who had been duped into wasting his water dragon missile on a substitution. Levelled by the blast, he ended up an unconscious, smoking black mark on the ground before Sasuke had landed.

Sakura ran up to him after a quick inspection of the area. "Are you ok?" she asked after deciding enemies were no longer forthcoming.

Sasuke nodded, even though it was obvious he had a light gash on his shoulder. "Fine. Them, not so much. You can heal the wounds later."

Sakura glanced at the piles of prone warriors. "We don't have time," she stated, an unsettling feeling growing in her stomach.

The last Uchiha nodded for the second time. "Yes. Let's find the sharingan user, quickly."

Pink and black afterimages flickered, then re-appeared on one of the hotel rooftops that hadn't been burned down already. Sasuke and Sakura kneeled as they peered stealthily over the roof lip to assess the streets below.

It was pure chaos. Men, women, and even children churned in a living wave that surged through the small village. Most were acting like berserkers. They swung their arms or whatever makeshift weapons they had managed to grab in a random fashion, destroying public properly as well wounding others. The rest just seemed to walk zombie-like, as if confused.

"Genjutsu," both Sasuke and Sakura mouthed to each other at the same time.

Sasuke smirked at her, his sharingan still blazing intensely. "Not just any genjutsu," he stated evenly. "It's something close to Tsukuyomi, only more primal. Rage instead of pain or horror."

Sakura's mouth went agape. Who could have done something like that? Not just in a logistical sense, but in terms of intent as well? The notion that someone was willing to do this to innocent people just to strike at Sasuke made her stomach churn. The kunoichi thought that she was beginning to understand Sasuke's reasons for imposing strict self-exile.

"Madara?" she gasped. A man was cut down by his snarling neighbor as she watched, his throat slashed open by a rusty shovel blade.

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Someone we've never met." He stood up.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked. There were several hundred people there; it looked like whoever had done this had been gathering people into a mob without either one of them noticing anything was wrong. She and Sasuke were high level shinobi, to be sure, but against that many…it would be next to impossible to release them all without seriously injuring or killing. Not to mention that in their enraged state, the townspeople could be just as dangerous as genin or even chunin.

"Stopping this," Sasuke said as he leaped into the fray.

Sakura gulped, wanting to curse the man's recklessness, but she knew it was the right thing to do. Without hesitation, she followed the last Uchiha.

The duo hit the ground in the exact center of the carnage. As soon as they did so, every single one of the mad villagers turned to face them hatefully. As one unit, they leapt into motion, closing around the ninja and the kunoichi like a noose of flesh.

Before the crowd had a chance to act, though, Sakura and Sasuke had already woven signs for ninjutsu. There was a series of eight loud pops, followed by a puff of smoke for each. Afterwards, there were five Sasukes and five Sakuras standing in a circle. The males made up one semi-circle, while the kunoichi clones made up another. In the center stood the originals, back to back with weapons drawn and eyes alert for danger.

As the mob closed in, the outermost Uchihas and Harunos met their clumsy, but powerful attacks. Each wielded gentle, evasive taijutsu that redirected their opponents' movements rather than stopping them or retaliating with superhuman force. It was difficult with limited space, but as the circle of shadow clones began to expand, the increased room allowed them to more effectively dodge, twist, and leap. As the clones fought, they tossed villagers stumbling to the middle of the circle, where the two originals removed their genjutsu, Sasuke with his eyes, and Sakura with her exhalations of "Kai!" and medical ninjutsu. Occasionally, the originals joined the fight to briefly cover a clone or patch a vulnerability in the circle before returning to their duties in the center.

Even though the fight lasted only a few minutes, it was grueling. Both Sasuke and Sakura panted heavily by the end of it, their chakra levels beginning to deplete. Bodies were strewn haphazardly around the area, placed as gently and as comfortingly as possible. There were two hundred or so in total, meaning there was probably a good number of shinobi still out there and possibly even more hypnotized civilians to worry about.

"These people…need help," Sakura said. There was a puff of smoke as her clones dismissed themselves. She staggered for a moment, collecting her waning energies in preparation.

"Agreed," Sasuke replied, his own clones leaping away with katanas drawn. "They'll search for the caster," he explained as he sheathed his sword and focused on steadying his own breathing.

Sakura took several deliberate steps away from him, then met his puzzled glance with a smirk of her own. "Summoning jutsu!" she barked after biting her thumb and slamming it on the ground.

There was another puff of smoke, this time much larger. When it faded, a gigantic white and green silk worm was sitting in a cleared section of the street. "Sakura-sama?" the creature somehow spoke even though it lacked lips or a human mouth.

"Katsuyu!" Sakura replied cheerfully despite the grim circumstances.

The worm looked around in confusion. "Oh my. Please tell me…what…what has happened here?"

Sakura shook her head. "Long story. The short version is, I need your chakra transfer network to heal these people. Please."

Katsuyu nodded and complied, but not before shooting Sasuke a glare of what Sakura could have sworn was a silkworm's version of distrust.

Splitting up into hundreds of much tinier slugs, Katsuyu rained down on the prone villagers, each instance crawling around until there was roughly one per person. The last worm settled into the space behind Sakura's neck. "Ready," the once gigantic creature spoke.

Sakura clapped her hands together in a seal of determination and closed her eyes, focusing. Green light suffused her hands, the kunoichi's Katsuyu attachment, and all the identical white slugs on the villagers. Their wounds began to slowly disappear, and she felt their damaged, weak chakra networks replenishing themselves with the offered transfusion of her own life force. Sakura knew that she would not be able to save all of them but took solace in the fact that many would most likely recover.

"Sakura," the woman heard Sasuke warn before being jolted back for the second time that night. She heard and felt, rather than saw, several small, flat, razor-like blades pierce the ground where she had been standing. The shriek of steel on steel rang out as more attacks presumably sailed at her, only for Sasuke to repeatedly cut them out of the air with his sword.

The kunoichi risked opening an eye just long enough for a quick glance. She saw Sasuke flashing back and forth so quickly it looked as if he was teleporting, shards of mutilated kunai or shuriken accompanying each motion. Sakura smiled, thankful for her protector, and went back to channeling the healing jutsu.

"Where are they coming from, Sasuke?" she asked. "How many?"

Sakura could practically feel Sasuke's frown. "I don't know. It's as if they're coming from every direction at once. We must be surrounded. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

A pause. "Amaterasu!"

Sakura sensed that she had almost channeled enough chakra into the victims, so she opened her eyes one more time. Sasuke was continuing to protect her with his circle of shining and ringing steel, but now there was a hunk of metal on the ground disintegrating under black flames. The kunoichi quirked an eyebrow, unsure why that had been necessary, but she trusted Sasuke's judgement.

The exchange continued for several more moments. Sasuke's mangekyo sharingan cast his face with red light for moment, then he smirked. "It's as I thought…they're recycling their weapons somehow. I didn't notice before, but now that I've destroyed one, the attacks' pace has slowed."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "How is that possible?"

Sasuke shrugged as he casually deflected a flying scalpel. "A unique mangekyo ability, perhaps," he mumbled.

Sakura shivered. She remembered the devastating power of Obito's kamui and decided that she'd had enough of sharingan (except Sasuke's) to last more than one lifetime. "What about the clones?" she asked.

"One of them dismissed itself to relay that the others are fighting more shinobi."

"Any with the eyes?"

Sasuke shook his head. "No. They're…" he began. Then his own eyes went eerily wide, showing an expression of shock that she had never seen from him before. The sight sent shivers of fear down her spine. For once, Sasuke looked _scared._

The Uchiha stopped moving. Then, he threw his sword at a nearby building, the blade embedding itself straight into a stone wall as it crackled with chidori. The strange razor projectiles continued to swerve at her from all angles.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted, hesitant to break her healing jutsu.

Sasuke jumped, kicked twice, and sliced a third in half with a chidori chop. "Throw your weapons away!" he screamed hoarsely back at her.

The kunoichi frowned, confused. "Why? Don't we…"

"Just do it!" Sasuke yelled. "Just fucking do it now! Amaterasu!" Black flames erupted from several pinpoints in the air, heralding the destruction of more flying missiles.

"I can't break the jutsu! They need more…" Sakura trailed off.

The Uchiha's efforts had not been enough. Several weapons struck at Saskura, and Sasuke could not stop all of them without his sword. He body blocked them instead, allowing the hits to sink into the flesh of his arms and legs.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried, ending the jutsu and reaching for his slumping body. The Uchiha writhed in pain. The kunoichi inspected the wounds, and to her horror, saw that the small razors were vibrating at high frequency. They tore viciously into Sasuke's flesh, burrowing deeper and deeper by the moment.

Sakura yelled incoherently, panicking as she desperately tried to stop the frighteningly powerful blades. She ripped them out with her bare hands, not liking the sprays of blood that came from Sasuke's body as she did so. Yet, it was better than leaving them inside. She bent the weapons with her super strength so that they would never sail through the air again, then rapidly discarded them.

Another wave came in. Sakura didn't know what else to do, so she prayed.

Her prayers were answered, though obviously not by the being she had intended. A purple flare of solidified chakra appeared in front of her like a wall. The construct blazed with living fire, and as Sakura looked around, she saw that it was base form of Sasuke's Susanoo', the ribcage. Dozens of those little razors scratched against it as she watched, unable to penetrate the Uchiha jutsu.

"Sakura!" Sasuke demanded again.

The kunoichi paused for a moment, then remembered. Her weapons. Supporting Sasuke's slumped body with one arm, she fished around at her side for the pouch that contained her ninja tools. After a brief delay, she had produced the item and presented it to Sasuke.

One moment was all it took. A score of shuriken and kunai exploded out of the bag like a grenade.

"Amaterasu!" Sasuke grunted for the third time.

The black flames coalesced like a singularity at the epicenter of the explosion, incinerating most of the weapons with their unquenchable hunger before they could do any damage. Several blades, however, managed to stab Sakura's chest.

Blood dribbled out of the woman's mouth. She swayed, then collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the Susanoo with a similarly weakened Sasuke.

Everything went dark.

Sakura thought she heard a male voice crying out for her, begging her to survive. To live. To get back up and keep fighting. The kunoichi didn't know why, but she found it easy to latch onto that voice. Whoever it was, she knew she didn't want to abandon them. The voice empowered her, gave her strength, strength enough to activate a last-resort jutsu.

Sakura awoke in a bloody daze, her vision swimming. Chakra depletion was imminent, but she funneled the remaining fumes into healing energy for her fatal wounds. She felt them close with a searing itch, flesh molding and re-stitching itself to keep her alive. Indistinct patterns of black lines and symbols appeared all over her skin. Faintly, Sakura remembered that it was the one-hundred-healings jutsu, a unique skill passed down to her by its inventor and her mentor, Lady Tsunade.

Dazedly, Sakura looked around. More black flames were burning inside the Susanoo': her own ninja tools that Sasuke had yanked out, most likely.

"Sasuke," Sakura breathed.

The Uchiha's face came into view. "I'm here," he replied as stoically as he could manage, a slight crack in his tone.

Sakura was numb, but not too numb that she couldn't feel herself smile. "Sasuke…I'm glad. Thank you."

"Here, take this," the Uchiha ordered, shoving a food pill into her mouth.

Sakura accepted the pill and swallowed. She felt a surge of stamina within her. With it, she was able to sit up on one knee. The blurriness in her vision faded, awareness flooding back to her. She felt Sasuke's inexplicably soft hand on her back, steadying her.

"Don't thank me yet," he replied wryly. "I don't know how much longer I can hold this."

Sakura looked up. What she saw both amazed and terrified her.

It was a nightmarish whirlwind of floating weapons. The metallic storm crashed repeatedly against the walls of Sasuke's Susanoo', causing horrendous shrieking sounds to flood her ears. Sparks trailed from the impacts, and Sasuke's teeth were grit in concentration as he tried to fight the pain and supply the jutsu with enough chakra. His eyes bled furiously as well—a consequence of the repeated Amaterasu usage.

Sakura tried to find the source of the effect, but she could not. The weapons—discarded Shinobi gear, Sasuke's own sword, pitch forks formerly wielded by the villagers, and more, they all completely obscured her vision beyond the Susanoo.

"Kami…" Sakura mouthed.

"No, not Kami," a sinister voice rang out from beyond the wailing cacophony of whining metal. The curtain of steel parted slightly, revealing a humanoid shape.

It was an average sized, physically fit man whose frame and bearing resembled that of a seasoned shinobi. He had blindingly pale and sallow skin. His entire right arm was composed of thousands of those tiny blades shaped like a monstrous arm that ended in crude claws. The man's body was bare, save for his upper legs and waist. His smile was crooked and toothless, showing only rotting gums.

Perhaps most shocking feature of all was his eyes. In addition to the one large, right eye that he possessed, dozens upon dozens of sharingan littered his body. They were affixed to his shoulders, his knees, his elbows, his chest…everywhere. All of them flickered back and forth, bulged grotesquely, and made disgustingly wet plopping sounds. Their irises did not resemble Obito's scythe pattern or even Sasuke's variety of hypnotic, beautiful patterns. These were simply red rings filled with an endless black void of nothingness.

"Shin," the man half-hissed, half-laughed. The large, right eye on his head seethed, and Sakura noticed that the eyelids were permanently restrained by a set of wires and stitches, such that they appeared to be permanently opened.

"Shin Uchiha."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:**

 **This is probably coming a little late, but I want to give a big thanks to everyone who is reviewing, following, and favoriting. I really appreciate it. No matter what I do, my own writing always seems really bad when I read it, so I started the first couple of chapters of this story quite a while back. I had given up on it because I decided the idea was stupid after all.**

 **Now I'm six chapters in and having a lot of fun. This story was originally going to be a lot shorter. Sasuke and Sakura were going to officially get together right after the fight with the four rogue ninja. After thinking about it, though, I realized that there was so much I could do instead. I decided to expand this story into a longer saga in order to more fully explore the possible themes, implications, and developments of their relationship, as well as the trials and adventures these characters might face during Sasuke's 'exile'.**

 **My writing style is very character-centric, and I enjoy in depth character studies. So expect a lot of introspection and development between Sakura and Sasuke. If you couldn't tell, I also like writing really unconventional fighting scenes as well, so expect plenty of that to break up the mushy stuff.**

 **I have *several* main villains in mind, as well as a vague idea of an epic character arc that mainly focuses on Sasuke, with Sakura as a supporting/POV character (let's face it, Sasuke is more far more powerful and interesting, since so much with him is utterly screwed up. Don't worry, though: Sakura will be far from useless. I actually like her quite a lot.)**

 **Be warned that things are going to get pretty dark. I don't like gratuitously mature themes for the sake of themselves, but in this case, things like murder, torture, and more are logical elements of the story I want to tell. I'm undecided if I want to include graphic descriptions of (consensual) sex later on, but it's a possibility.**

 **Also, I think at this point I can call the story AU. Obviously, Shin is showing up way earlier than Boruto and will play a more significant role. There will also be other AU elements, but nothing too wild. Aside from minor changes, my intent is to show what happened between Naruto and Boruto in a way that really doesn't change the actual plotline of Boruto in any significant way.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

"Uchiha?" Sakura heard Sasuke mutter, his eyes flying wide open.

Shin smirked, the toothlessness of the gesture lending it an ominous and perverse quality. "Uchiha," the hideous man confirmed before letting out another barking laugh. "Only, unlike you, Sasuke, I'm a real one."

Sakura tried flexing her muscles as she looked at Sasuke, awaiting his response to the bizarre words. The kunoichi was able to make a fist, but not a very firm one. She was out of both chakra and physical stamina. Releasing the townspeople from the genjutsu had taken a lot out of her, especially in combination with her use of shadow clones, intense taijutsu, summoning, and mass healing. Under normal circumstances, the Haruno clan member might have been able to muster another chakra-infused punch or two, but in her present condition, Sakura doubted she could have even dodged a simple kunai.

Ashura's reincarnation swept his calculating gaze over the scene. The bladestorm was still scraping against the edges of his Susanoo' barrier, the constant damage preventing it from growing larger. Not that there would have been any space for Sasuke's perfect Susanoo' to stand anyways, given that the area was littered with the prone bodies of injured and dazed civilians.

"So, Shin," Sasuke began, his voice superhumanly calm and deadly. Sakura noticed that he kept his head down as he spoke. "Are you saying I'm an imposter?"

Shin cackled once more, his whole body heaving under the recoil of his amusement. The dozens upon dozens of sharingan embedded in his body twisted and bulged, coordinating the barrage of thin metal blades with constant twitches and jerks of their pupils. "Sasuke…" Shin drawled, letting the word hit the air like an envenomed curse, "…no one has ever been less deserving of the Uchiha name than you."

Sakura put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder then, as if to assure him of her support. In truth, half her reason for doing so was because the gesture also served to help her keep her balance. The kunoichi found a retort on her lips, but was suddenly interrupted by a coughing fit that splashed the earth in front of her with droplets of crimson blood. Frankly, it was a miracle that she was still conscious. Sakura knew that her chakra network was beginning to break down from overuse, the mysterious spiritual organs damaging flesh around them as they seized and overflowed with power.

"Is that so?" came Sasuke's retort. Ebony locks of hair still framed his face, obscuring the smoldering eyes that Sakura knew no doubt lurked underneath.

"Yes…" Shin half-spoke, half-hissed. "You have shamed our clan's lineage. You protect the Leaf from the shadows, the same village that once spurned, oppressed, and murdered our people. You continue to slave away for those who turned their backs on you and dared to call you a traitor for refusing to accept the slaughter of innocents."

Sasuke let out one of his trademark strained sighs under his breath. "Shin…you don't understand anything," he shot back.

For once, the pale abomination did not laugh maniacally. Instead, he simply nodded sadly, as if confirming a previous hypothesis. Then he shook his head. "Shameful. Shameful, to see one of the last remnants of a once-proud clan reduced to such pathetic submission of fate," he spat angrily.

"You speak of shame?" Sasuke replied through heavy pants. Sweat began to drip down his face, and he shuddered with concentration. "Look in a mirror. Anyone who would do that to their own body, anyone who would cannibalize the eyes of other Uchiha…they are the ones undeserving of the name."

Shin frowned. "Oh Sasuke. You are the one who understands so little." As he spoke, the blades redoubled their efforts to carve through the Susanoo'. Horrible grinding and screeching sounds filled the air as steel danced blindingly around the shinobi and kunoichi pair. "These eyes are not those of other Uchiha. No, I have awakened my own Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan…and cloned them. The power you are witnessing…it is mine. ALL MINE!"

As Shin's voice rose into a crescendo of insane fury, so too did the keening song of the whirling blades. The purple Susanoo's ribcage was racked by a massive spasm, and then began to crack.

"This is the power of an Uchiha who has embraced their true nature, Sasuke!" Shin screamed over the roar of blades, his voice somehow still booming in Sakura's ears. "You are doomed, Sasuke. A pitiful Uchiha who has lost the fire of conviction cannot hope to stand against power such as this."

"You want fire?!" Sasuke spat, his long locks flapping around as he jerked his head up to look Shin dead in the eyes. "I'll give you fire!"

"Amaterasu!" he roared.

Black flames sprung into existence with a sickening snapping sound. They instantly covered the exterior of the doujutsu guardian with a sheathe three inches thick. Many of Shin's remotely-controlled blades could not escape the ravenous hunger of those demonic fires and were nearly instantly consumed. Others plummeted into them, Shin unable to maneuver their trajectories in time to avoid being caught. Even some of those that he did manage to withdraw carried a spark of black fire, which spread rapidly, leaping from razor to razor. Within the span of a few moments, at least half of the deranged Uchiha's flying weapons had been eliminated.

Sasuke smirked, clearly doing his best to disregard the curtain of blood oozing from his right eyeball. "You were saying?"

If Shin was impressed or taken aback, he did not show it. "You're stronger than I expected, Sasuke," he spoke pensively. The words sounded more like 'patronizing' than 'genuinely surprised'. "Perhaps I should have let you tire yourself out more before launching my attack," the pale man wondered aloud. Then he gave a slight shrug. "No matter. There is still no hope for you, pretender."

Sakura saw Sasuke's bloody eye peer up at the array of floating weapons. She traced his gaze and noticed through her rapidly-fading vision that the older Uchiha had withdrawn his blades. Shin was holding them several feet back from Sasuke, where they had been arranged into rows of fanged spikes that resembled massive jaws of metallic death.

"You speak of power," Sasuke said, then gave his own little wry chuckle. "But I see that you have not even awoken the sharingan in both eyes. For all your talk, you cannot hope to wield the might of the perfect Susanoo'."

Sasuke's veins suddenly bulged, and groaning creaks filled the air as his purple spirit guardian began to sprout shoulders, arms, legs, and a neck in rapid succession. Sakura felt herself lifting off the ground, the rapid motion disorienting in the extreme.

Shin snarled; the sound was animalistic and frightening. Shivers shot down Sakura's spine. "I don't need your weak Susanoo'. My bloodline is stronger!"

As the other Uchiha spoke, the spikes composed of hundreds of smaller blades that he had molded previously shot forth, heedless of the Amaterasu cloak enveloping their target. They stuck forcefully into the energy creature's armpits, shoulders, wrists, and neck. Before the black fire could totally incinerate them, the massive weapons jerked, ground, and twisted, prying up the Susanoo's body. Its rudimentary bones cracked, skin and muscle framework peeling away under the force of thousands of grinding micro-razors. Then, just as the steel had nearly been eaten away, the assembly of blades exploded outward like a series of bombs. Blazing shrapnel rained down upon the scene, smashing the central ribcage with further violent impacts as Sasuke and Sakura crashed to the earth below them.

When Sakura next awoke, the kunoichi was pretty sure she had blacked out for at least a few seconds. Pain wracked her entire body, particularly her hands, elbows, and knees. She must have collapsed, although her vision was now oriented straight upward. The cause of this soon became apparent when she saw the underside of Sasuke's face looming over her. Feeling returned to her body. Sakura also realized that she felt her legs draped over his knees and his one arm supporting her back. The last Uchiha was in a kneeling position, which indicated that he, too, had nearly reached exhaustion.

"Sasuke?" Sakura heard herself mumble weakly. Copper-smelling moisture dribbled out as she spoke, but the kunoichi didn't notice or care. Her eyelids fluttered, vision fading in and out. Everything was hazy, and she was tired. Weak.

Sasuke turned and looked down at her. "Sakura…" he whispered gently. "We'll make it out of this. I promise I won't abandon you. Not again."

Sakura screwed up her eyes, trying to gauge the young man's expression as he spoke. She wasn't confident that she'd really heard what she'd thought she'd just heard. Perhaps her half-dead, delirious brain had imagined it, but for a half second, it had almost sounded as if Sasuke was genuinely pained by the idea of loosing her. As if he had meant it when he had tried to soothe her worries (not that Sakura was convinced in the slightest that everything would be ok).

"How touching, Sasuke-kun," Shin mocked viciously, which earned him a hateful glare from Sasuke. "You actually care for this woman?"

Sasuke did not answer.

Shin's right eye bulged even wider and more grotesquely, if such a thing were even possible. "You do!" he gasped. "Your depravity knows no bounds, Sasuke. An Uchiha, even a false one, consorting with lesser bloodlines…this is truly disgusting. Although I suppose it is of no matter. You will give in all the same."

Just then, Sakura noticed that Shin had held several blades back, among them Sasuke's own katana. It slid dangerously through the air, then hovered over the prone form of an unconscious woman.

Sakura saw Sasuke grit his teeth. Hard. Then, he made 'hrn' noise deep within his chest. Quivering with anger, he warned "Don't. You. Dare."

"Oh, I do dare," Shin retorted. "I dare, Sasuke. I dare to use your pathetic weakness against you. A true Uchiha's heart has no mercy for the suffering of others. I will kill this woman without hesitation if you do not give me what I want."

"And what it is it that you want?" Sasuke managed say, his body still quivering with the effort of maintaining the most basic level of Susanoo'.

Shin smiled. It was all gums and soulless horror. "Your eyes."

"My…"

"Yes. Your eyes. Give me your sharingan and rinnesharignan, or I will torture and kill every man, woman, and child in this village," Shin spoke coldly, as if he was merely describing what he had eaten for breakfast that morning.

"No, don't…" Sakura whispered, squeezing his shoulder weakly with one of her hands. She tried to speak more, but another fit of coughing occurred.

Sasuke looked down at her, the angry snarl on his face vanishing. His eyes were sad, defeated. "I have to, Sakura. Or he'll kill these people," he whispered back, loud enough for only her to hear.

The kunoichi frowned. It would have been impossible for her to become the world's most renowned medic-nin without possessing a deep compassion for people. A significant portion of her psyche recoiled at the idea of choosing Sasuke's eyes over the lives of several hundred innocents. Still, she knew it was the practical choice. Giving away the power of Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, let alone the unique abilities of Ashura's rinnesharingan, would be irresponsible in the extreme. The last thing the world needed was another Madara ascending to godhood. Only this time, it would be worse, there would be no Sasuke to combat him. As much as Sakura respected Naruto's tremendous abilities, she reminded herself that it had required both he _and_ Sasuke to end the fourth great shinobi war. If Shin somehow acquired Hashirama cells…well, based on his already considerable levels of power, she worried that Naruto might not be able to take him down.

"Sasuke," she blurted, reaching weakly for the Uchiha. Although she had convinced herself that there were logical reasons behind accepting his choice, the kunoichi was suddenly made aware that there was an even stronger motivation behind them. As she studied Sasuke's incredibly weary and pained features, his treasured eyes disappeared, becoming endless black pools of horrific void. Hallucinations of Sasuke stumbling around blindly flashed across her consciousness, taunting her with the tragedy of it all.

"It's not fair," she said. _Haven't you suffered enough?_

Sasuke shook his head. "No, it isn't…" he replied, seeming half in thought.

 _You can think of something. You're too smart to fall for this trap,_ she pleaded at him mentally, unable speak due to another series of coughing fits.

If Sasuke had read Sakura's intent through her expression, he didn't show it.

"Bah!" Shin suddenly spat, drawing the instant attention of both ninja. "You're stalling, Sasuke. Enough of this nonsense. Evidently you don't understand how serious I am. Here, let me give you a demonstration."

"No!" Uchiha and Haruno voices rang out simultaneously.

Sasuke's katana descended with a flash of steel, instantly slicing open the prone woman's throat with surgical efficiency. She jerked once, her eyes flickering open for a brief moment. Then, they faded and closed as vivid bursts of lifeblood pumped from the severed stump of her neck.

Sakura smashed her fingers into a fist as strongly as she could, gritting her teeth with anger as she watched the young woman die before her very eyes. The Haruno clan member had grown accustomed, if not still entirely comfortable with, the sight of death. It was an unavoidable reality within the shinobi world. The civilian in front of her, though, had not been a shinobi. She shouldn't have died that way. The perverse wrongness of it all caused flames to flare within Sakura's soul. Fantasies of sprinting up to Shin and smashing his body into a bloody pulp with ape-like barrages of punches appeared in her brain as Inner Sakura took the helm for a first time in a long while.

Sasuke, on the other hand, appeared to be suffering from much the same kind of reaction. Only, in his case, he had chakra left to do something about it.

"Amaterasu!" he spat again, a fresh gout of blood pouring from his right eyeball.

Two things happened at once.

The first was a black, singularity-like ball that appeared in exactly the space Shin was standing in. Or rather, the place he _had_ been standing, since the sociopathic Uchiha managed to leap away from the attack before it had fully formed. Mere heartbeats after he had vacated the influence of the orb, it burst violently into an exact outline of Shin's body, the edges of it flickering with tongues of all-destroying flame. They cast the village street in an eerie light with the seething, shadowy light of their hunger.

The second: Sasuke's body was wracked by a painful spasm, causing him to let out an agonized cry at the top of his lungs as he clutched his right eye. An unbelievable amount of blood gushed from between his interlocked fingers, running down his arm in dark red rivulets. His frame quivered with the pained aftershocks, his recovery evidently coming very slowly.

"An admirable attempt," Shin pretended to comment. His words stung like barbs. "But too slow. One eye cannot compete against a hundred. Any move you make, Sasuke, I will see coming ten steps in advance."

Sakura's first impulse was to bark at Shin, but the kunoichi found herself preoccupied by Sasuke's condition. Steadying herself with a quivering arm, she inspected the Uchiha. Her medical texts had explained the nature of the sharingan to her, and although she didn't have any foreknowledge of Sasuke's Amaterasu, she had managed to learn that unique mangekyo abilities generally taxed the user's chakra and nervous system to such a degree that overuse could prove deadly, even fatal. No doubt, Sasuke was experiencing a powerful biofeedback shockwave that would prevent him from taking further offensive action for quite some time.

Cursing, Sakura whished he had enough chakra left to heal him, or at least assuage his pain. Watching him kneel there in such agony made her physically sick and her heart ache more than she had thought possible.

"It seems you need another reminder. And, you must be punished, Sasuke, don't you see?" Shin went on. Sasuke's katana wavered in midair, and then began to dance through the air with macabre sweeps.

And everywhere it went, the throats of many more civilians were opened.

Within seconds, the street had become a blood-soaked tunnel of death. Red liquid permeated the ground with its stickiness, the coppery scent of it nearly causing Sakura to vomit.

The kunoichi felt her eyes go wide as tears formed within them. The hand that wasn't holding her slumped form upright stifled a loud gasp. She let out a slight sob, too overwhelmed to be simply angry. The kunoichi had tried to heal these people…she had given of her own life essence and energy to do so, and now it was all for naught. Despite her best efforts, she had been unable to save them. She had been baited and tricked by the cunning intelligence of Shin, who had so clearly intended to massacre all of them to begin with. Placing them within genjutsu had been a ploy from the beginning, a ploy to waste her chakra and exploit her compassion. The twisted cunning of it, the callous disregard for life, it rocked Sakura to her very core. As a medic-nin, she could not imagine another shinobi whose code was so in opposition with hers.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke to gauge his reaction. She couldn't tell if the man felt the same way, but she did see the trickle of blood coming from between his fingers thin and become lighter in color, as if it were mixing with a different liquid. Droplets also began to fall from Sasuke's left eye, although Sakura could not tell in the strange lighting of the scene whether the substance was also blood, or something else.

Meanwhile, Shin continued to chuckle madly. "It's hopeless, Sasuke. How many people will you let down? How many people will you fail and kill with your incompetence? Your selfishness?"

Rationally, Sakura knew that the same words could be said of Shin. Yet, at the same time, she realized that doing so would prove ineffective. The man realized his hypocrisy…no, he _reveled_ in it. Sasuke though…he wasn't quite same. Sakura knew better than anyone that the emotionally stunted and cruel Uchiha cared a lot more about people than he let on. Shin's words were undoubtedly getting to him, preying on the regrets of his past.

"Don't listen to him!" Sakura choked out, her words barely audible.

"Silence, whore," Shin spat. With a flicker of his eyes, the katana flew straight for her. It was stopped by the Susanoo' barrier, but the wickedly sharp masterwork blade began to fracture the armor. If it broke through, mere inches would separate it from Sakura's weakened body.

Sasuke grit his teeth. "Stop." That was all he said.

Shin looked at him, puzzled. "What right do you have, traitor, to give the likes of me orders?"

The katana inched closer, cutting halfway through Sasuke's weakening Susanoo'.

"Not an order. A bargain," Sasuke elaborated. "I will give you my eyes, if you spare Sakura, and these people."

Shin paused, and the katana stopped slicing through. Instead, it merely stayed, embedded, in the spiritual guardian's body.

"I care nothing for their lives. They are merely tools. Give me your eyes, and I will spare them, though they are undeserving of mercy. You have my word, as a proud and true Uchiha."

Sasuke nodded. He reached for Sakura. "Sakura," he stated, putting a hand on her bare forearm.

The Haruno looked up at him. His eyes were downcast, pained. Yet they also showed a faint glimmer of his cunning.

"Sasuke?" she asked, sensing that there was something more complex going on.

The Uchiha smirked at her, his intention clear. It was a look that said _I have a plan._

As Sakura pondered just what that plan might be, Sasuke faintly began to trace patterns on her bare skin. For a moment, his motions seemed affectionate, but then Sakura understood.

He was speaking to her in Leaf shinobi code.

 _Extra eye. Will give. Pretend remove mine._

"Shin," Sasuke spoke.

The pale Uchiha quirked a non-existent eyebrow.

"Please, give her a moment. Sakura is a medic-nin. She can perform the procedure, but she needs chakra," he explained. As Sasuke distracted his opponent this way, he slowly reached behind his back and formed a quick series of odd, jangled, one-handed jutsu signs. There was a quiet puff of smoke, and then another sharingan appeared in his palm.

Sakura suppressed a gasp of surprise. Then she remembered what Sasuke had implied within the forest. He now wore Itachi's and had saved his old ones. The sharingan in his hand could only be one of Sasuke's birth eyes. Sakura didn't know what he planned to do with it, since the idea of Shin being deceived in such a way was doubtful at best.

Doing her best not give away Sasuke's plan by staring, Sakura refocused on Shin.

"This had better not be a trap, Sasuke," Shin warned with a hiss. A razor dangled over the throat of another villager.

Sasuke didn't answer. Instead, he cupped the eye behind his back and reached for Sakura's hand. He pretended to hold her for emotional support, but in reality, he had passed the eye to her, which she clutched carefully.

"Do, it, Sakura," Sasuke spoke.

Sakura nodded despite her reservations and reached for Sasuke's face. The Uchiha looked down and let his hair conceal his visage, so that Sakura's fingers were mostly out of view.

Shin grinned victoriously. "Yes," he encouraged, evil glee evident in his many eyes.

Sakura did her best to ignore the graphic horror of her surroundings. She shut her eyes against them and focused, fighting the urge to fall unconscious. After a half minute or so, she managed to make her hand glow with the green chakra of medical ninjutsu for the sake of authenticity. Then, palming Sasuke's birth eye, she pulled her hand away.

"Show it to me," Shin commanded.

Sakura did as he asked. She opened her fingers, revealing a set of white sclera and red iris swirling with three black tomoes.

"Toss it to him," Sasuke told her.

Sakura shot him a look that said 'Are you sure'? The woman could not imagine what Sasuke might have been planning, but her faith in him was stalwart.

Sasuke nodded, and the Susanoo' vanished.

Sakura gently pitched Shin the white orb. He caught it deftly with one hand and immediately held it up for inspection.

"What a magnificent thing, the sharingan," Shin spoke gleefully as he allowed his body-eyes to continue focusing on the floating weapons while his natural right eye swept over Sasuke's. No doubt he was examining it with chakra-reading power.

"Yes," Sasuke replied. "Its power is unrivaled, though it comes at a cost."

Shin frowned, then looked up at Sasuke. His katana hovered over him and Sakura. "Explain," Shin elaborated. "And don't forget: one wrong move and I kill the girl."

Sakura felt an icy chill run down her spine. How ironic, she thought, to wind up getting killed by Sasuke's own blade.

"The Sharingan is indeed a powerful tool," Sasuke went on, seemingly unfazed by the looming death. "However…if abused, one is left in darkness."

Shin jerked with sudden fury. "What did you do!" he demanded, spinning Sasuke's eye around to face the shinobi. Sakura saw that the crimson irises had shifted to a dull grey color, as if blinded.

"Izanagi," Sasuke calmly stated, his intact right eye blazing with vengeance as he met the gaze of the blind one in Shin's hand.

The katana descended.

Sakura's life flashed before her eyes for the second time.

Or at least, it started to. She blinked, the images of her happy days among team Kakashi-seven fading away as she realized she was still alive and unpierced by Sasuke's sword. Even more confusingly, her position had somehow changed. To her left she saw Sasuke's katana buried in the corpse of one of the villagers, their body splayed where she had been slumped mere heartbeats earlier. She also felt Sasuke's arms (plural?) supporting her. One felt metallic and warped, while the other seemed flesh-and-blood.

"What?!" Shin spat. "This is…" He was cut off, then, by a swirling vortex of purple energy that appeared behind him. Sakura instantly recognized the phenomenon as a portal: the same kind Obito had opened inside Kaguya's alternate dimension.

The pale Uchiha contorted, trying to jump away from the aperture as his many eyes directed razors to fly at Sasuke. At the same time, Sakura pushed herself away from him and landed shakily on her feet. This freed the man's hands, who, instead of dodging as he originally intended, was able to form a sign between his natural arm and his rinnegan-induced mechanical arm.

There was an odd noise in the air that sounded vaguely like a pressure release, and the razors stopped, hanging suspended. Sakura recognized the technique as an imitation of Tendo Pain's primary ability.

It still wasn't enough to stop Shin. The man charged forward, abandoning his method of preferred attack for a savage punch. Sakura knew that she was too weak to stop him, but she did manage to leap (or more accurately, fall) to the side as she flung a handful of smoke bombs.

Cursing wildly, Shin bumbled, dazed, into the stinging cloud of gas. Sakura was glad, then, that she had laced her pellets with a light dosage of custom toxin. The substance had been intended to sting the eyes and anesthetize the victim, though she had not imagined ever having to use the trick against someone who was literally covered in the very organs she had intended to counter. A lucky decision, indeed.

Shin jerked spasmodically as his many eyes shut tightly. "What is this!" he roared like a rabid animal. Blood and tears emanated from his many sharingan.

Sasuke smirked as he flipped vertically over the cloud of smoke. As he reached the apex of the jump, his arms clasped together in a clapping motion. Before his feet touched the ground on the other side, the multitude of Shin's blades descended upon him.

The twisted Uchiha screamed as they pierced his skin, popping some of the sharingan as they brutally carved his body. Within seconds, he had become so covered in his own weapons that he resembled a macabre porcupine that dripped with eye fluid and blood.

Sakura saw all of this, for the smoke was beginning to clear. The solution had sacrificed permanency for superior effect. Unfortunately, this meant that Shin was able to see again as well.

"I will make you suffer for that!" Shin bellowed, his bloody and bloodshot right eye searching back and forth.

Before he could act, Sasuke moved. His hands reached out in front of him, then pulled powerfully back towards his own body. Sakura was confused until she saw Shin get yanked through the air toward Sasuke. Apparently, he had somehow attached ninja wire to the blades.

"No!" Shin blurted, panicked, as Sasuke readied a chidori strike. It seemed this his fate was sealed.

Almost.

Shin's primary sharingan activated, causing the blades in his flesh to loosen and fall, freeing him from the pull of the wires. He wavered clumsily as he recovered his balance.

Directly in front of the portal once again.

Sakura saw her chance. Emboldened by the sudden reversal of fate, she managed to squeeze just one more handful of chakra from her body.

She rose, legs crying beneath her. At first she stumbled, then walked, then ran. One arm slumped at her side, useless. The kunoichi knew her posture was weak and half-dead. It was through an immense force of will that she was able to move her legs quickly enough for a shambling sprint and rear one hand back for a brutish strike.

"Bad idea," Shin said as he noticed the approaching kunoichi. She was far too slow and clumsy for him not to. "Watch, Sasuke, as I take your woman from you."

Shin's large eye bulged. The blades rose from the ground, pointing towards Sakura.

Sakura Haruno knew she was dead. Between Sasuke's concentration on the portal and his expenditure of both doujutsu and the temporary cooldown of his Tendo Pain ability, she knew there was little that he could do. Strangely enough, Sakura was ok with this. She only hoped that her punch would land as she died, or that the dead weight of her would at least push Shin through the portal to whatever hell Sasuke had conjured for the man. If she was doomed to die within as well, Sakura was happy in the knowledge that she'd be taking the evil Uchiha with her to the grave.

Sasuke would live, and that was all that mattered to her.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, but she would not be deterred.

"Shaaaannnaaaarrrroo!" the kunoichi yelled through burning lungs.

"DIE!" Shin said, matching her intensity.

The blades flew.

And they missed.

Black metal rods were suddenly sticking out of Shin's body, and he sagged, concentration lapsing. Some of the weapons still stung Sakura's body, but the wounds weren't deadly enough to kill her instantly.

She made it to him. Her punch was horribly uncoordinated, but it didn't need to be anything more. Shin's eyes went wide as the monstrous wave of strength smashed into his body, sending him toppling backwards and through the portal.

"It can't be…" the man spoke in sheer shock as he went through. Sakura recoiled drunkenly from her impact as she saw Shin's face disappear behind a cloud of purple.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The last part of Shin's face to fall through was the black-red hue of his eye. It flashed with energy, and Sakura felt herself getting wrapped head-to-toe by the ninja wire Sasuke had used earlier. The other ends fastened themselves around Shin's foot, which rapidly fell through the portal as well.

As a result, Sakura herself was flung into the portal just as it began to close. The world became a dizzy blur as she fell forward. On the other side, Sakura saw the inverted edge of a snowy mountainside, a plummeting Shin dragging her down with him.

Sakura did not have the strength to resist, especially with the wires digging an agonizing pattern of bloody cuts all over her body. Numb darkness was closing in, and the woman knew that this time she would be powerless to refuse it.

Something wrapped around her waist, holding her upper body back, though it still dangled dangerously on the other side of the portal. Vaguely, Sakura knew that it was Sasuke's arm.

There was woosh, and the portal began to close. The edges were so close that Sakura could see them on the edge of her vision. And when they did…she knew that anything between them would be sliced in half.

"Sasuke, let me go," she pleaded. Beneath her, Shin struggled, his weight threatening to topple both her and Sasuke over the edge. "I'm happy with this."

"No, Sakura!" Sasuke blurted into her ear. His tone was unmistakably saddened. She felt moisture against her neck and shoulders.

"Save yourself, Sasuke. This is how it's meant to be. I accept this," she muttered, her eyes closing.

The last thing she remembered was watching Shin fall, and the sensation of a massive strength moving her body like a ragdoll.


	7. Chapter 7

Sakura awoke to the sound of rain.

Gingerly, the woman opened her eyes. Orange light stung them, exacerbating the migraine that lurked inside her skull. She clamped them closed, but the gesture did not help eradicate the pain that permeated her body.

Fighting the misery and temptation to slip back into dreamless sleep, the kunoichi sent a pulse of chakra along her own body, using her medic-nin proficiency to assess her own condition. What she found was frightening, but not surprising.

Deep, barely scarred-over gouges covered her arms and legs. A larger puncture was somewhere within her torso, right near her breasts. From the sensation, the kunoichi guessed that there was some organ damage—hopefully just bruising. A couple of her ribs were cracked as well. Lastly, there were traces of residual infection lingering in her body, causing her to feel hot and cold at the same time as well as suffer sweating, weakness, dizziness, and nausea.

 _Not good,_ Sakura thought. It was good to be alive, though. _This had better not become a habit, or I probably won't be able to say that anymore._

Taking several deep, steadying breaths, the woman braved the risk of opening her eyes once more. The searing pain returned, echoing the burn of the many cuts in her body. She refused to close them, however.

Shadows danced on the stone ceiling above her. Evidently, there was a campfire of some kind nearby…most likely built by Sasuke, or whoever was tending her wounds at the moment. From what Sakura could tell, she was in a cave: the rock formations looked too uneven and haphazard to be of human design.

A chill swept over her, and Sakura shuddered. The warmth of the fire to her left was comforting, but it did little to protect her right side from the deadly, bone-shattering chill of the dark night. Not even the blankets she felt above her managed to ward it off completely.

That's when Sakura realized she was naked. Underneath the cover of cloth, she felt icy air touching bare skin. Terrified, Sakura craned her neck downwards and lifted the blanket weakly with one shaking hand.

Her instincts were correct. The kunoichi was completely exposed, save for the coverings of bandages that wrapped around her wounds. Most of them had varying degrees of bloodstains, as well as a sticky-looking poultice that reeked of natural musk. Thankfully, her breasts had a protective layer as well, at least.

Sakura instinctively smashed her thighs together and crossed her ankles as much as she could without re-opening any of the wounds. Her less injured hand reached across her nipples, clutching them against the coldness that penetrated the bandages.

She shivered, and this time it was partially from fear. Although she was pretty sure who it was who had undressed and taken care of her, Sakura wanted to be dead-sure.

A lance of pain shot to her head as the woman turned her neck to the left. Patches of light exploded in her vision as she did so, but Sakura fought through it. When the stars cleared, she took stock of her surroundings.

The cave was deep but narrow, perhaps fifteen feet across at most of its points and fifty or so long. A modest fire was several feet away from her. Next to it was an arrangement of mats, packs, and an improvised clothesline made of ninja wire. Upon it hung her clothes, which appeared soaked despite the fires beneath them.

 _Well, that explains that,_ Sakura thought. But where was her savoir?

Squinting, Sakura finally saw him. The man's back was facing her, his dark cloak obscuring most of his body. Even among the flickering lights cast by the campfire, Sasuke appeared more as a shadowy silhouette than a real person. He head was inclined slightly to the side as he peered out at the stormy night beyond the cave entrance as if deep in thought.

Sakura felt a wave of relief wash over her. If it were any other male (besides the obvious exception of Naruto), she would have feared that her body had been abused while she was unconscious. Since it had been Sasuke, she took a deep breath and felt her worry melt away.

The kunoichi tried to speak, but her words caught in her throat. It was far too dry and sore to make any sounds come out, so she stared and choked as she watched Sasuke stand there, alone.

A few minutes later, Sasuke's head turned as he watched another instance of himself emerge from the shower of rainwater. The newcomer pulled back a drenched hood as he stepped inside the cave and shook out his wet hair. Then, without speaking, the pair of them put their hands together and formed seals in unison.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall," they mumbled as a wall of earth rose suddenly from the ground and closed off the cave, save for a small slit that was left near the top. As the jutsu completed, one of the Sasukes disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving only the wet newcomer.

The original Sasuke sauntered over to Sakura, the light of the fire revealing a bundle of wood and herbs clutched in his arm. He did a double take, then jumped when he saw Sakura looking up at him.

Rushing to set the bundles down, Sasuke went over to the kunoichi and reached for a water flask. He held it to her mouth and helped her drink.

"Sorry," he mumbled by way of brusque apology.

Sakura nodded slightly as she leaned up to receive the water. The action triggered aches all over her body, but the cool, soothing liquid in her throat was worth it. The Haruno drank and drank until the flask was empty and her mouth was properly hydrated enough to speak.

"Thank you," she murmured, locking eyes with the Uchiha.

Sasuke stood up and set the flask down. "Hrn," was all that he said as he looked swiftly away, as if unwilling to look her in the eyes.

"It's ok," Sakura said weakly, her chin dipping to indicate her condition. "You did what you had to." Still her cheeks flushed hypocritically as she spoke. Feminine modesty was not such an easy thing to get rid of. Even for kunoichi, it seemed.

Sasuke picked up the wood, which was just as wet as he was. Setting it next to the fire, Sasuke reached for the herbs next. Most went into a bubbling pot of water draped over the fire. Others were tucked into his pockets for later use.

"I know," Sasuke retorted all the same. Then, he plopped down next to her in a sitting cross-legged position. "I'm sorry about the cold," he followed up at length. "We needed more fire and medicine, so I couldn't keep you warm."

Sakura was puzzled for a moment, then blushed again as the implication became clear. "Oh…" was all that she was able to say. Ironic, she thought, that now she wasn't cold anymore.

"How's your chakra?" the Uchiha asked, seemingly eager to change the subject.

Sakura swallowed her nerves. "It's weak," she answered. "Maybe eleven percent."

Sasuke nodded as he toweled himself off. "Enough to heal yourself?"

Sakura considered his words for a moment. "Some of the more serious ones, maybe."

"I did what I could with my limited medical training," he explained.

"Actually, it's not too bad," Sakura answered. "The cuts seem like they're mostly sealed by the poultice. They may need some changing, and I'll have to be careful, but I should be able to move around if I can mend these ribs and the cavity puncture."

Sasuke stared blankly, and Sakura realized that his features were incredibly weary, as if he had been awake for several days straight, which he most likely had. It was only when her hand began to peel back the blankets that Sasuke finally understood.

Silently, the man rose and circled around the campfire, turning his back to the kunoichi to grant her some privacy. His movements were sluggish, and Sakura felt guilty for causing him so much trouble. Rationally, she knew that his exhaustion had been strictly necessary to save her life, but she still felt horrible.

The Haruno ran a glowing green palm across her chest as Sasuke busied himself with organizing supplies. The healing energy soaked into Sakura, her eyes carefully examining her work as she did her best to repair the damaged torso.

Several minutes passed in this fashion before Sakura was satisfied. Nodding, she experimentally tensed her chest muscles and sent out another wave of exploratory chakra. It still hurt, and her chakra was probably at around three percent, but the kunoichi knew she had recovered enough to risk taking care of herself.

"Finished," Sakura called to him.

"Are you decent?" the Uchiha asked over his shoulder after a slight delay.

A smile came to Sakura's face. "Yes, Sasuke," she said, coming up into a sitting position as she wrapped herself with the blankets.

Sasuke turned back and unceremoniously trotted over to her. "Let's get you in a sitting position, against the wall," he offered.

Sakura nodded her acceptance, and, with the Uchiha's help, was able to hobble over to an alcove of rock next to the fire while somehow keeping herself covered. Sasuke nestled some pillows, packs, and bunches of cloth on the floor and behind her head as the injured kunoichi gingerly sat.

"Ok?" Sasuke said from above her.

"It hurts," Sakura said, wincing. She could tell, though, that she'd managed not to worsen her condition, thanks to the healing she'd given herself. "I won't be fighting for a few days, at least. Otherwise, I'll be okay."

"Good," Sasuke said rather expressionlessly. He reached for the pot, produced a bowl, and asked, "What about your stomach? Feel up to some soup?"

Sakura's stomach audibly gurgled. "No," she answered. "What is it?"

"A medicine broth."

Sakura sighed. These things never tasted good. "I'd better try, then."

Sasuke dipped the bowl in the pot and walked back over to her. "Here."

"Thanks," the kunoichi replied as she graciously accepted the bowl with both hands.

Sasuke plopped down next to her leaned against the wall, interposing himself between the partially sealed cave entrance and Sakura's body. She felt some of the chill fade away as Sasuke's own inexplicably fiery body heat supplied her side with a warmth even the campfire could not, in addition to blocking some of the faint wind from outside.

She frowned. "That's not fair, Sasuke," Sakura complained.

Sasuke turned to face her. "What?" he asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"You gave me all of the pillows."

Sasuke looked at her like she was an idiot. "You're the injured one," he said. "Besides, I'm using to roughing it in the wilderness."

Sakura felt sinking feeling in her stomach that wasn't from the fever. It dawned on her that Sasuke had probably spent many nights just like these, camping in cramped, dark, cold caves over the five years he had been missing. On some of those nights, she feared, he may have even found himself in her condition. It would certainly explain his rugged expertise at surviving these sorts of extreme situations.

She didn't argue. Sakura knew it would be pointless to try to convince Sasuke to do anything he didn't really want to. Instead, she looked down at her soup and tried to determine what the hell it was.

Incredibly thin, green broth sloshed in the bowl. Strange bits of herbs she didn't recognize tumbled inside. The whole solution smelled vaguely of an unknown type of tea, which she figured must have been the base, as well as animal fat.

Cautiously, Sakura lifted the bowl and sipped. Surprisingly, the gross-looking liquid didn't taste all that bad. It had earthy notes, and the texture wasn't really that great, but it gave her a sudden burst of energy that dulled the pain.

"I've never seen anything like this," Sakura changed the subject, then took another gulp. She'd studied countless medical texts, and this item had never appeared in any of them. A shame, she decided, since the concoction did seem to have beneficial effects.

"It's an Uchiha recipe," Sasuke offered after Sakura had been left to drink for several minutes in silence. "You're probably the first outsider to taste it."

Sakura nearly choked on her next mouthful. "Oh," she managed to say while wiping her chin. "It's very kind of you to share the secret. I promise I won't tell anyone."

Sasuke shrugged. "It doesn't matter anymore."

An awkward silence settled over the scene. In the background, relentless pouring of rain punctuated the tension, its pounding too loud and too rapid for Sakura to find it calming. Then, in the distance, a sudden roar of thunder interrupted the night.

Giving up on further conversation for the time being, Sakura sought comfort in the restorative properties of the soup. It didn't take long for her to slurp down the bowl, and by the time she had finished, the kunoichi could feel her chakra replenishing.

Setting the bowl to the side, the injured kunoichi finally asked: "What happened?"

Sasuke answered, but he didn't look at her. As usual, he just stared into the fire as if a method for cleaning the skeletons from his closet could be found there. "Not much. I cut the wire with chidori and pulled you out just before it closed. Then I took our equipment, carried you as far as I could from the village, and found a suitable cave. I've been guarding and tending to your wounds ever since."

Sakura nodded, her suspicions confirmed. "What about Katsuyu?"

Sasuke made a clicking noise with his mouth, and Sakura guessed that it was meant to pass for a laugh. "The one on your shoulder told me it had some chakra left and would do what it could to help the villagers. It entrusted me to care of you, and then I left. I'm sure she's fine."

That garnered an actual grunt of humor from Sakura. Katsuyu had a tendency to act like her mother sometimes. It was quite a radical shift to hear that the silkworm was now trusting Sasuke of all people, especially when she gave Sakura hell about even Naruto. Still, it was a reasonable reaction, she supposed, given the situation and Sasuke's actions during the fight.

Perhaps there was a chance for people to change their minds about the last Uchiha after all.

Sakura didn't feel that it would be wise to voice her thoughts to Sasuke, though. "That's good," was all she said.

"Hrn."

Something still burned on her mind. "What happened back there, Sasuke? With your other eye?"

Sasuke seemed like he wasn't going to answer her, then changed his mind. He must have figured there was little chance of him getting away with ignoring her. "I don't suppose you're familiar with Izanagi?" he asked by way of explanation.

Sakura shook her head.

"It's a sharingan-based doujutsu. Forbidden. Or at least it was. Not many people have heard of it."

"Are you going to tell me what it does," Sakura teased with a smirk, "or just dance around the question?"

Sasuke's lips curled. "Patience, Sakura," he warned. A sigh.

"You don't have to explain if you don't want to," Sakura said with an intense, sympathetic look. "I mean, if it brings up too many painful memories…"

Sasuke scoffed, then looked at her as if she were crazy. Sakura couldn't help but notice the gesture seemed a little forced, though. "It's not that," he replied, his normally stoic voice cracking a little. His pride was clearly too strong to admit that something had gotten to him, and the kunoichi felt a little bad for preying on his insecurities. "I suppose I may was well tell you. It will be a long night, otherwise."

Sakura frowned at the idea that the only thing that could make Sasuke talk to her was physical confinement and a moral obligation to stay by her side. Something nagged at the back of her mind, though: why had he felt the need to voice the comment aloud? Normally, the last Uchiha was the type of person to keep his reasons for doing things to himself. And while he could be an insufferable jerk at times, Sakura felt it was a bit out of character for him to be so insulting. It's not as if Sasuke were outright cruel or anything.

A curious thought crossed her mind. _Was he trying to convince himself?_ The medic-nin had read in the books she'd told Sasuke about that people with social or emotional avoidance problems paradoxically craved that which they also feared most. As result, it was common for these types of people to constantly delude or remind themselves about their own need for aversion.

Was it really possible that Sasuke had slipped up and revealed something about himself? Sakura wanted to believe it was true, or even just that it was possible, but she still feared that her personal bias was clouding her judgement. She didn't want to overthink Sasuke's disposition, especially since the clues she was going off of were so insignificant.

Still, if she were to keep talking and spending time with him (an easy objective, given that he was stuck with her for several more days at least), Sakura knew that many insignificant clues could add up to one significant one. The likelihood of her tentative diagnosis was further supported by the events at the hot spring inn directly before Shin's attack. Although Sakura knew that Sasuke had been asking for her confession just to lessen his own pain, the fact that he'd done so was a good sign that the Uchiha wasn't as much of stone man as everyone—even her—had assumed.

 _Just how much could he have changed?_

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked, turning his head towards her as if worried.

 _He does care!_ The kunoichi thought hopefully. _Never mind, I'm probably just over-analyzing. Calm the hell down, girl._

"Sakura!?" Sasuke repeated a little more firmly, half-shouting.

The woman jolted out of her stupor. "Oh, don't worry, I'm fine, Sasuke-kun!" she chimed cheerfully back at him. "I just drifted out for a second."

Sasuke wiped his expression away with practiced discipline. "Tch," he muttered. "Stupid girl."

Sakura didn't take any real offense. It had just been Sasuke being Sasuke. "Shut up," she said anyway, punching him on the arm. The blow was pathetically weak, and the kunoichi felt some of her scars creak.

"Ow…" the pinkette moaned, rubbing her forearm bandages and making sure that the cuts hadn't re-opened.

Sasuke smirked. "Serves you right. And don't all me '-kun'. Now, do you want to hear about Izanagi, or not?"

The Haruno nodded her affirmation.

"Well…" Sasuke began, then launched into a summary of what he had learned from Obito, Danzo, and Itachi about Izanagi, as well as its role in the history of the Uchiha clan. "It allows a sharingan user to glimpse the shadows of another world and project what they see onto reality," he eventually concluded. "There's an old quote about it: _'Those who trade the light of their eyes for the shadows of power are doomed to dwell in darkness'_."

Sakura took a deep breath. "Wow…" she said, shaking herself from the rapt attention with which she had been listening. "That's….fascinating. Thank you for sharing that with me, as well as sacrificing one of your birth eyes on my behalf." She gave a polite half-bow.

Sasuke looked distressed. "Please," he scoffed. "Don't act like I'm a hero. I only did what was necessary. Besides, it wasn't just for you. I did it because it was the only way to survive without the two of us abandoning those people through a rinnegan portal."

"Well, I appreciate it all the same," Sakura replied, blinking her eyes at the man who still wouldn't look at her. It was as if she weren't there. "I figured you would have wanted to save them for…" Sakura hesitated. Was it really a good idea to bring this up?

Sasuke raised his left eyebrow quizzically and shot the kunoichi a brief look.

Too late.

"Well, I mean…" Sakura stammered nervously. "For when, for your…you know."

"My what?"

Sakura gulped. "Your child." _Our child._ "Aren't you planning on rebuilding your clan? I just though you might want to gift them your Eternal…"

Sasuke was quiet. His jaw clenched.

Sakura felt like she wanted to curl into a ball in one of the cave's corners and disappear. _Why are you so freaking selfish?_ Inner Sakura berated her.

Much to the kunoichi's massive surprise, Sasuke chuckled. It was a dry, humorless, chuckle, but still. Progress.

The Uchiha shrugged. "I suppose I did, once, but I've given up that silly dream," he explained sadly.

It was Sakura's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"What kid would want a father like me?" he said after brooding silently for a long time. "I have more important things to do, anyway."

Sakura suppressed a sob. "Sasuke…" she whispered, clamping down hard on her urge to reach out and comfort the shinobi. _That's not true._ "I think it's a wonderful dream."

Sasuke ignored her.

She didn't care. "You deserve to be happy. You deserve a family, someone who will-"

The last Uchiha just shook his head resolutely. "Stop, Sakura. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Sakura felt a lump in her throat, but managed to nod. It took many minutes of silently listening to the rain and enjoying Sasuke's warm closeness to recover emotionally.

"Sasuke?" she asked timidly.

"Hrn?" came the reply.

"Do you still want to talk? About something else?"

Another sigh. "I suppose."

Sakura tried not to let his callous attitude hurt her too much, but the effort was futile. As the kunoichi was getting more and more used to it, though, her ability to live _with_ the pain instead of _against_ it was increasing.

It was difficult to feel proud of that fact.

"I'm not sure I understand," Sakura began, deciding to stave off her inner turmoil with as much conversation as she could muster. "Why did you need to use the Izanagi?"

"Tch," Sasuke admonished. His little noises of annoyance were starting to become expressive in their own way. "Naruto and I, we're not as invincible as everyone thinks we are. We're still human."

Sasuke paused pensively, looking up at the cave ceiling. "Actually, scratch that. _I'm_ human. Naruto is something else. Maybe a species of dobe."

Sakura joined him for a laugh, hers much more mirthful than his. It was difficult to disagree with the Uchiha, at times.

"But, to answer your question," Sasuke elaborated when she had stopped laughing. He was dead serious again. Monotone. "I didn't have that much chakra left, and I'd overused my visual prowess. I saw a world where I hadn't helped any of the people who were already dead. I had more chakra there, so I brought that reality into being."

Sakura nodded in comprehension. It never ceased to amaze her just how strong Sasuke continued to become. The kunoichi supposed it was trait she'd never get rid of.

A scary thought crossed her mind. "Wait…does that mean that Shin…" she asked.

"Yeah, maybe," Sasuke answered, sensing her fear. "Don't worry, though. He can't hurt us. Izanagi only affects the status of the user."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. "Still," he went on, "doesn't that mean he could still be alive?"

Sasuke nodded. "It's possible. If he was truly an Uchiha, then he can probably use it…" the man seemed to think aloud.

"Then why didn't he? He had so many eyes…" Sakura said, shivering with disgust at the memory.

Sasuke sat quietly for a minute, his eyes seeing a replay of the fight instead of the dim cave. "I honestly think he was surprised. And angry. Too angry to think clearly," Sasuke eventually decided. "He won't make that mistake twice."

"Agreed. But we'll be prepared too, won't we?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke winced at the word 'we', but didn't press the issue. He agreed with her by way of a curt nod. "If I see that bastard again, I'll kill him," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. "After I get some answers."

Sakura cocked her head. It was curious to her that the Uchiha had used the word 'kill'. Wasn't he supposed to be a pacifist?

At that moment, Sakura's weary brain remembered something. When Sasuke had saved her from the creepy sand puppeteer, and then that bastard of a rapist Shiro (an event Sakura could barely think about without feeling like she needed to take a bath), he had killed them both.

Vaguely, she wondered what had so moved the man to break his oath. It would have been a massive understatement to say that Sasuke had the will to see through whatever he set his mind to. There had to be a common denominator between the sand ninja, the cloud ninja, and Shin…but Sakura's tired mind couldn't figure it out.

The kunoichi yawned, and her migraine started to return. The soup could only help so long, it seemed.

"Want to lie down?" Sasuke asked her. He sounded like the he really didn't care, but Sakura knew the offer was genuine.

"No," Sakura said, adjusting herself under the blankets. She dared to stretch, the much-needed motion causing her muscle tension to abate, if only slightly. "I'd rather change positions, after lying in one place kami-knows-how-long."

Sasuke nodded. "Fine. Let me know if you need help with anything," he stated, then adjusted his own body in the alcove.

"Alright," Sakura begrudgingly agreed. The idea of getting Sasuke's help with doing something as simple as getting up for the bathroom was a little humiliating, but she'd been through worse. Besides, she'd need it, and the man had obviously already seen everything there was to see while nursing her back to health.

A little thrill of embarrassment shot through her, followed by one of excitement. _You're a kunoichi,_ she told herself, _you've been prepared for this. You've been through it before._

But not with him.

It would already be a long, difficult evening trying to sleep, but Sakura owed it to her loyal body to try. The last thing this woman needed was thoughts of nudity between former teammates, so she tried to force herself to sleep.

After several minutes of intense concentration, it became clear to Sakura that she wasn't lucky enough to get it. Sasuke's body was a scant few inches away…so close, yet unattainably far. It was a cruel tease.

The young kunoichi had heard stories of shinobi whose sex drives skyrocketed after brushes with death, and how many ninja couples had had their first time together after such missions. It was a natural instinct she had been prepared for.

Or so Sakura had thought.

The breathing exercises and mental imaging wasn't working. The only things Sakura could see in her head were fantasies of her seducing Sasuke…of peeling off the blankets and climbing atop his body, where she'd smother his face in kisses while mounting him. Then they'd make sensual love deep into the night, her pent-up passion for the man finally released as he eventually gave in and admitted his own…

Or maybe she'd just beg him to fuck her like a wild animal. Whatever worked.

 _Shit. Why do I have to be so lewd? What's wrong with me?_ Sakura bemoaned mentally. _Eh, fuck it. Who cares._ She was woman and she had needs. Rationally, she knew there was nothing wrong with it…thankfully, the Leaf village wasn't as oppressive towards women and their sexualities as some of the other villages could be. Many of the older generation didn't even like the idea of kunoichi. Bastards.

In all honesty, though, Sakura's libido wasn't the main issue. Deep down, she knew that what really stung her most was her emotional love for Sasuke, and not just his physical form. It hurt her immeasurably to think of the sheer agony and loneliness that the Uchiha had gone through. For most of his life, no one had given a shit about him…no one had understood him, not even her. That was the real tragedy of it all in Sakura's eyes. Although it could be said that Sasuke had inflicted his isolation upon himself, even in the early days of Team 7, Sakura didn't think he was entirely to blame for his own misery.

Deep down, Sakura was sure that there was a loving, caring person beneath all the rage and cynicism. It was often the most caring people who became the most callous when the world stepped on them, the kunoichi knew. She only hoped that after his final fight with Naruto and subsequent epiphany, Sasuke had had a chance, and would continue, to heal.

Assuming, of course, that fate didn't try to beat the last Uchiha down again. Being a wielder of the Six Paths was a heavy burden to bear. Sasuke was right to think that the world needed him…even if many might not have shared her opinion. If doing good deeds was his way of atoning, Sakura wholeheartedly supported him.

And she was resolved to doing it in person. To make that goal become a reality. To make sure that he would not falter…even if she had to force him to accept her company. Sasuke deserved that much, at least.

Sakura was suddenly torn from her thoughts by a severe chill. The storm seemed to be picking up, and icy gusts whistled into the room from the breathing slot Sasuke had left in the mud wall as lighting and thunder repeatedly clashed in the night.

Despite her best efforts to maintain a tough façade in front of Sasuke, the weakened kunoichi couldn't help but suppress an intense shiver. Curling into a semi-fetal position, she put her back to the cave entrance.

"Sakura?" the Haruno heard a male voice reach out from above and behind her. "You're cold."

"Noticed, did you?" Sakura quipped, poorly feigning a laugh at her own joke. "I'll be fine."

A pause. Then, a sigh. "Sakura, you're hurt. I can't let you get sick right now," the Uchiha admonished.

 _He has a point._

"You don't have to do anything about it, Sasuke," Sakura replied, rolling over enough to shoot the man a glance. "Seriously. It's fine."

"No, it's not," the kunoichi heard a firm voice bark from behind her. Just as she was trying to curl up again, Sakura felt herself being pulled towards the voice's owner.

Protesting, the woman tried to resist. It was no use. Sasuke was a lot stronger than her without her chakra control, which she couldn't use in her condition. She was forced to relax and let herself be turned over and lifted by one arm wrapped around her slim waist.

The next thing Sakura knew, she had been clutched against the left side of Sasuke's body…his incredibly warm and comfortable body.

Blushing, Sakura said, "What are you doing?"

"Stopping your stubborn ass from freezing to death," he answered. "You're welcome."

Sakura looked up at Sasuke, her emerald green eyes meeting his from a few inches away. "I…" she stammered, heart pounding. "Thank you."

Sasuke nodded, and tried to close his eyes again.

Sakura frowned. "There," she replied sweetly.

The Uchiha opened his rinnegan eye, then looked down. He gestured at Sakura's blankets, which she had cast over them both to share.

Sakura giggled playfully and bat her eyelashes. "Just returning the favor. Don't want you to freeze, either."

Sasuke's face seemed frozen in a mask of horror, and Sakura almost laughed despite the dysfunction of it all. The Uchiha's mouth opened, his lips moving wordlessly. "I…" he eventually managed to say. "Sakura, you're naked."

The kunoichi shrugged. "So? I know you've already seen everything, Sasuke."

A hint of red appeared on Sasuke's cheeks. It was so faint, Sakura thought she might have imagined it. She smiled.

"I'm…" Sasuke began. Then he sighed. "Fine. But I'm not taking my clothes off."

"You don't have to, Sasuke," Sakura found herself saying empathetically. "Just sit there and let me be warm."

Sasuke begrudgingly nodded. Not one to lose a golden opportunity, Sakura curled up against the side of Sasuke's body. Their forms seemed to meld together perfectly, and the feelings of affection and happiness that Sakura felt almost caused her to moan out loud. She adjusted a few pillows, closed her eyes, and nuzzled her head into Sasuke's neck.

"Wow, you're so warm," the kunoichi trailed off. She was already feeling the chains of sleep binding her. The cuddled position was incredibly satisfying: it scratched a deep ache whose true depths Sakura hadn't even comprehended. Although she would have preferred it if the Uchiha let himself be an active participant, the Haruno was content enough.

Sasuke said something. Maybe it was just one of his noises. But true to his word, he stayed perfectly, patiently still until Sakura had fallen into a blissful, dreamless, painless sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Tsunade peered scornfully at the stack of papers on her desk, sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. The endless workload of administrative tasks was starting to wear on her psyche. The end of the war and the subsequent diplomatic alliance between the five great villages had brought with them a greatly-increased demand for diplomacy.

The blonde hokage knew that the age of militaristic leadership was nearing its end. While Tsunade acknowledged that this paradigm shift would benefit the world in the long run, it still didn't seem all that great for her personally. The fiery woman was a medic-nin, and, like most shinobi, a fierce warrior. Her place was on the battlefield: fighting and saving the lives of those who were wounded on it. She knew there would be little room for an aging fossil of a bygone generation like herself in this new world she was building.

Of course, these mixed feelings of doubt were not the only ones plaguing Tsunade. The absence of her pupil was also burdening her. It had been a little more than a week since Sakura had left the Leaf village under the auspice of 'taking a vacation'. The world-weary hokage had had no illusions about what might end up happening when she granted her permission, but she hadn't imagined that Sakura would have been gone for so long. It wasn't that Tsunade feared that Sasuke was capable of hurting her; the woman had received many reports that suggested the Uchiha had spent the years of his absence making a genuine attempt to atone. Rather, Tsunade feared Sakura may have joined Sasuke permanently as a missing nin. It was a difficult thought to contemplate, and the kunoichi wondered, not for the first time, if she had made a grave mistake.

"No. She's got a good head on her shoulders," Tsunade whispered to herself. "She'll come back." Then she stood and trotted over to the large window in her office and stared out at the sprawling expanse of the Leaf village.

Much of Konoha was still under construction. Efforts to rebuild after Nagato Pain's attack were slow and laborious. Still, a great deal of progress had been made in the past few years. As it turned out, shinobi with superhuman abilities were quite adept at hard labor. Moreover, the shinobi alliance had graciously decided to assist the Leaf village, an acknowledgement of their sacrifices and role in the war. Tsunade's advisors estimated that everything would be as restored as much as physically possible in one or two more years.

The fifth hokage's heart surged with pride and relief. A moment later, a pang of sadness stole the feeling from her. Despite the bright, hopeful feature ahead, Sakura had found no happiness in the Leaf since Sasuke's departure. It was a shame, really: the Haruno was probably the world's most talented medical ninja aside from Tsunade herself, in addition to being a top-tier shinobi. Sakura could've had an illustrious career due to her role in defeating Kaguya. What was it that had caused her to fall hopelessly in love with a tortured, ex-criminal of a soul like Sasuke?

Tsunade sighed again. In all honesty, she couldn't blame her pupil. The hokage knew better than anyone that the heart wanted what it wanted. After all these years, she still hadn't gotten over the death of her own lover.

"You're more like me than you think," Tsunade muttered at the glass panes in front of her.

The blond sanin was about to turn around and head back to her desk when the door opened. There were only a few people who barged into her office. The door hadn't been _slammed,_ which meant it wasn't Naruto, and since Sakura was gone, that left only one person…

"Shizune," Tsunade said with a nod as she turned around.

Her assistant smiled. "Lady Tsunade," she replied.

Her voice was strangely breathless, as if the woman had hurried to the top of the hokage tower. "Something wrong?" the blonde asked.

"Possibly," came Shizune's reply. "We've received a messenger hawk."

Tsunade frowned. "Strange. We're not due to receive any communications." In fact, there were hardly any ninjas currently out on missions at that moment. Tsunade was in the process preparing an escort for her visit to the Village-Hidden-in-the-Sand, which was hosting a gathering celebrating the end of the war.

"That's correct," Shizune elaborated. "It's not one of ours?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Cloud? Mist?"

Shizune shook her head. "It's not from a village. Its unaffiliated."

Tsunade scrunched her beautiful face in concentration. "What did it look like?"

"Let's see," the assistant answered, glancing at a clipboard. "It had brown feathers and…" she trailed off, then looked up in shock. "A purple eye with radiating lines in it."

"Bring me to it," Tsunade firmly requested without hesitation.

Shizune's face was an expression of worry. "Are you sure, Lady Tsunade? We don't know if the bird is trapped or possibly…"

"It's not."

"If you say so, hokage-sama," Shizune said, bowing.

The pair of women walked brusquely to the hawkmaster's tower, Shizune struggling to keep up with Tsunade's intense, purposeful strides.

"Is…is something wrong?" Shizune asked delicately, afraid that her superior was in a poor mood for some reason.

Tsunade turned and forced a smile. "No, not at all. It's just that…"

"You're worried about Sakura and fear this might have something to do with her."

The sanin nodded.

Shizune was aware of the reports concerning Sasuke, and Tsunade had confided her true reason for Sakura's departure. She elected to finish the walk in solemn silence. The woman didn't know that much about Sasuke Uchiha personally, aside from all the nasty things everyone else had heard. She knew that he had been formally forgiven by the Alliance, but she still didn't trust him. If Sakura was potentially with the Uchiha…the report might not necessarily be all that good.

It didn't take long for the duo to arrive. Tsunade strode into the room atop the hawkmaster's tower. There, one Hyuga clan jonin and the hawkmaster himself, a Yamakana clan intelligence member, stood off to one side quietly chatting as they cast suspicious glances at the bird. It was perched in the stone sill of one of the room's windows, silently regarding the humans occupying it with an ominous rinnegan in its left eye socket.

"Hokage-sama," the men said, bowing.

"I appreciate the prompt report. What have you learned so far?" Tsunade said.

The Hyuga shinobi gestured at the hawk. "Only that it has strange chakra signatures," he said. "Which isn't surprising, given the eye."

Tsunade nodded and reached for the hawk.

"Hokage!" the Yamakana blurted, reaching out as if to stop her.

Tsunade bat his hand away as gently as she could manage. "Please. I'm not some doddering old crone," she shot back. "I can handle myself."

The two men looked at each other skeptically after their leader turned away from them but did not argue.

The hawk did not flinch in the slightest as Tsunade approached it. She put her hands on a small scroll pouch tied to one talon and removed the item. As she did so, the hawk looked up at her, squawked once, and flew swiftly away.

Tsunade let it go. She was more interested in the scroll she was holding. Unrolling it (much to the dismay of the three other nervous people in the room), she saw that the paper was littered with encrypted language. Luckily, the woman was able to read it; as the hokage, she had kept herself up to date on the ever-changing codes used for Leaf communications.

As she read, her face silently changed from one of frustration, to anger, to relief, to worry.

"Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked as she peered at her superior from the side.

Lord Fifth took a deep, steadying breath, turned on her heel, and stormed off. "Follow me, Shizune. You too," she added, signaling for the byakugan user. "We have something important to take care of."

* * *

The forest clearing echoed with rhythmic slapping sounds. Interspersed between them were harsh, feminine grunts accented by deep breathing.

"Excellent," Sasuke remarked. "Your strength and stamina are recovering."

Sakura kept punching the mulch-filled sack without skipping a beat. "How many?" she asked.

"You were supposed to be counting," Sasuke smirked. "I guess your mental focus needs more work."

Sakura shot the Uchiha a simmering look as her eyebrow jerked in annoyance. Her next hit against the makeshift training dummy was several times harder and caused the fabric to rip open. The contests spilled from the mock wound with a dry hiss.

"Tch," Sasuke admonished with a shake of his head. "You've ruined my hard work."

Sakura leaned back and put her hands on her hips as sweat beaded on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry for ruining your _masterpiece_ , Sasuke!" she exasperated.

Sasuke shrugged. "Fine. Be that way. I'm not making you another one." He picked up a rock and tossed it to her.

Sakura jerked in surprise but managed to catch the object. The kunoichi shot him a mischievous look as she hefted it several times.

Evidently, Sasuke was oblivious to her intent. "Crush it. I want see how much…" he began, suddenly interrupted by a smirking Sakura throwing the rock directly at his face.

The Uchiha waited until the last instant. Then, Sakura saw him blur, his upper body leaning to the side as the rock sailed harmlessly past. In the same motion, his left arm shot out from beneath his cloak in a parallel line to the ground. A kunai appeared mere inches away from Sakura's body almost before she realized what was happening.

The kunoichi's hand snapped upward and blocked the projectile. She held it victoriously between her index and middle finger, raising the weapon to show Sasuke. "What was that for, Sasuke-kun?" she teased with mock hurt in her tone.

"I told you, don't call me that," he growled angrily. "I figured if you had enough to energy to throw rocks at people who are trying to help you, you had enough energy to block a kunai."

Sakura grinned. "It seems you were correct," she said, dropping the blade for a brief instant before catching it again with her full hand. A blue field of energy surrounded the appendage as she violently made a fist. The weapon instantly shattered into hundreds of pieces, their shrapnel flying in every direction.

"Hrm. Impressive," Sasuke reacted emotionlessly when Sakura raised her unbloodied hand. "But a total waste of chakra you could've been using to heal."

It was evident that the stalwart kunoichi wanted to argue, but it was difficult to do so when her arm was visibly shaking. "I'll be fine," she said. "Not that you care."

Her tone of voice indicated a joke, but Sasuke didn't laugh. "You've made excellent progress for it only being a day and half," he said, unwilling or unable to contradict her statement. "You'll be fine by tomorrow night."

Sakura nodded her affirmation. She had dramatically recovered from her ordeal, given the circumstances. "The perks of my fighting style," Sakura chimed as she walked over to a flat rock and rested her weary legs.

Sasuke rumbled a low, baritone chuckle. "True. I'd argue it's more effective not to get hurt in the first place, though."

Inner Sakura's face contorted with rage. Was he trying to make her hate him?

Outer Sakura just opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it. "Not all of us have legendary doujutsu," she shot back.

A soft grunt was her only reply.

Sakura sighed and reached into her pouch for some of the rations Sasuke had procured. The bread was semi-stale but packed with nutrients, so the kunoichi brought it up to her mouth and took a bite.

Sasuke must have seen her grimace, because he took out a scroll. There was a puff of smoke, followed by the sudden appearance of a tomato in his hand. "Want one?" he asked.

Sakura blinked. Then she burst out laughing.

Sasuke winced. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Sakura tried to recover politely as she wiped a tear away. "It's just that…I hadn't imagined you really kept tomatoes for on-demand summoning."

The last Uchiha raised one eyebrow. "Why? They're good," he answered, turning away and pointedly sulking. "See for yourself."

Sakura caught the thrown fruit as Sasuke conjured his own tomato with a puff of smoke. He took a slow bite, savoring the juicy red morsel. Based on what little she could perceive of his facial features, Sakura guessed that the dour ninja was satisfied with it.

Speaking of his face…the kunoichi noticed small rivulets of tomato juice flowing across his chin. For an instant, Sakura imagined what it might be like to gently clutch that beautiful face of his in both hands, peel back those locks of hair, and slowly clean the liquid off him with her tongue.

"Thank you," Sakura blurted with a shake of her head. Now was not the time to be thinking such thoughts. While the Haruno was at least clothed now, she still didn't want Sasuke seeing evidence of her arousal. She reached into her nearby pack for a bit of salt and rubbed it on her tomato.

"What are you doing?!" she heard a sharp male voice ask her from across the clearing.

Sakura looked up in confusion, hoping that the blush had faded from her face.

"Why did you do that?" Sasuke clarified with a scowl.

Sakura looked around in confusion. She glanced down at herself, her equipment, and then finally at the tomato. Realization dawned on her. "You mean…the salt?"

"Tch. What else?"

Sakura frowned indignantly. "Because. It's good that way," she replied, taking a bite of the salt-covered fruit for emphasis.

Sasuke did something surprising. He gagged. "Disgusting. You're ruining it," he complained.

Sakura slowly chewed her bite of refreshing, salty tomato, making half-fake moaning noises as if to contradict him. "Purist," she spat, closing her eyes and looking away as she continued to eat.

The ninja pair ate in silence, seemingly ignoring each other from opposite ends of the green forest clearing. Sakura savored the natural beauty of her surroundings as she ate, stealing quiet glances at Sasuke every now and then just to see what the Uchiha was doing.

The answer: not much. As usual, Sasuke was brooding with his shadowy aura that seemed to devour the light around him itself, doing his best to ignore her existence as much as possible. In all honesty, Sakura didn't know why she ever expected anything else. Yet, as always, her eyes were inevitably drawn to him all the same. The kunoichi could never get enough of eyefuls of his gorgeous form. To her, Sasuke was to most appealing person in existence. While she knew this wasn't exactly an unreasonable or even uncommon feeling, the woman embraced it all the same.

Vaguely, Sakura wondered if Sasuke ever looked at her that way. The answer obviously 'no', but she liked to think that maybe the mysterious Uchiha at least regarded her as mildly pretty. Her large forehead was still a major insecurity for her, and while she had received her fair share of suitors, it hadn't been many. For all her life, Sakura had felt like nothing special: an average ninja (at best) who was living in the shadows of the prodigies that were her teammates. And in the field of femininity, she was overshadowed by the likes of her fellow kunoichi. Almost all her female peers were paired up with someone: Tenten with Lee, Hinata with Naruto, Temari with Shikamaru, and so on. Sakura knew she was one of the few people who was alone and unloved.

 _Not that I need that to be happy,_ the pinkette told herself.

It only sounded half true. Sakura took great pride in her medical career, in her ability to make a difference in the world, whether it was saving lives or breaking the bones of her enemies with just one punch. There was something severely missing in that equation, though. Sakura didn't just want to assist with the collective good. She cared about the individual, too.

That was why she kept finding herself drawn to the complexities of Sasuke. The kunoichi knew that the man was deeply wounded and had been for most of his life. Perhaps it was girlish and naïve of her, but she honestly believed that she could help him. Pure fantasy though it might be, Sakura would have found it immensely satisfying and meaningful if the Uchiha would at least let her do that. She didn't need his reciprocation. All she wanted was to heal the man she (inexplicably, at times) loved.

 _I'm pathetic,_ Sakura reminded herself for the thousandth time.

It was only when the silent awkwardness had dragged on for half an hour that she finally gave in and called out to her silent companion.

"Sasuke," she said (and how she loved saying that name), "I was thinking that we could…" She stopped, seeing that the man was as still as a stone statue, his head drooped downward as if in deep contemplation.

 _What I wouldn't give to find out what goes on in that mind of his,_ the kunoichi whined with an audible sigh of frustration.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha heard his pinkette companion, but his conscious mind didn't register the words. As usual, he was far too busy with his inner world of dreams, memories, and personal demons.

He cast a glance at her with his sharinnegan, peering through his black bangs so that she couldn't see. The woman's mouth moved, but Sasuke didn't hear her.

 _Sakura,_ he thought to himself. _If only you knew._

* * *

Sasuke was no longer in the forest clearing where had been helping Sakura train. Instead, he was transported back in time, two nights before.

Sakura was nuzzled against his side, her soft, feminine skin tantalizing his own even through the obstruction of his clothes and her bandages. The woman's small—but still noticeable—breasts were just barely touching him, and Sasuke could not stop himself from imagining what it would be like to cup those orbs in his hands and tease them mercilessly, to own and dominate them completely. Likewise, images flashed into his head involving him and Sakura in all sorts of lewd positions: her glorious body spread out before him as he pulled apart her thighs, or her back arched as she offered herself up to him with a beautiful pout over her strong, yet womanly shoulders. Sakura would tease him with a playful shake of her rear, flaunting that delicious, needy eagerness before Sasuke until it whipped him into a frenzy of desire that could only culminate in abusing her supple ass with his reddening palm strikes as he took Sakura furiously to the rhythm of her ecstatic begs for more—

The Uchiha gripped his fist tightly, his nails digging into his skin until they drew blood with the force of their intensity. He embraced the pain, used his ever-present companion as a tool to override the avalanche of lust.

As Sasuke did so, new images flashed into his mind that had nothing at all to do with sex. He saw the bloodied faces of his own clan, the mutilated bodies of his relatives, their lifeless eyes searing into his brain with the sheer, incompressible, existential horror of death and cruelty. He saw the gore of Uchihas disemboweled or burned, the foul smells intermingling in a putrid sensation that rocked the child version of Sasuke to his core. He remembered what it had been like to cry and vomit for hours as his heart pounded out of his chest, his head and eyes thrummed with agony, and his very bones vibrated with the terror of loss.

He remembered Itachi's haunting eyes and statements, which Sasuke knew would mercilessly torture him to the end of his days, even though he now knew the truth and reasons behind his older brother's actions. The emotional pain was insensate and irrational, yet it was still there, inescapably etched on his mind. Abandonment, loss, loneliness…these feelings that always simmered within him were intensified as he forced himself to recall their origin. They loomed before him like a vast, dark, infinite sea from which he could not escape.

Even more emotions settled over the scene, becoming a bitter storm of lightning strikes and thunder that whipped the water into a terrifying frenzy. Regret and self-loathing joined him as Sasuke's view switched from the massacre to his memories of attacking the five-kage summit. The Uchiha saw the samurai he had cut down like wheat before the chaff. He imagined their families, and how those men must have been mourned with no less intensity than Sasuke had mourned the death of his own mother and father.

Sasuke felt sick as more regrets joined the storm: his attack upon Bee, forcing the Raikage to amputate his arm, his attempted murder of Naruto, of using Karin like a tool before stabbing through her…

Worst of all, though, was his attempted murder of Sakura.

The Uchiha's heart skipped a beat as the writhing sea became a tidal wave in response to the gravity of this final sin. The foaming, black waters morphed into the shape of Sakura's face. She smirked at him as her visage crashed down towards him for the retribution that was rightly due.

Sasuke tried to flee, to teleport away, to conjure a shinra tensei…to do anything. But he could not. In his heart of hearts, Sasuke wanted to stand there and let the water drag him down into the punishing depths of his evil.

And so, he did.

Sasuke opened eyes that he hadn't realized he'd tightly shut. He let his tensed muscles relax as the icy sensation of a sea that didn't exist washed over him. He panted heavily, a calm focus returning to the ninja as he took solace in the fire several feet away. Not even the warmth of his favored element could remove his cold sweat, but Sasuke let his mind empty as he watched the dancing shapes.

Some time later, he blinked and tore his gaze away. The Uchiha looked down at the kunoichi, thankful that she had found a peaceful sleep and was therefore unaware of his ordeal.

It would utterly crush her to know just how uncomfortable her presence made him. As much as Sasuke enjoyed Sakura's closeness, as much as he wanted her with an intense male need, Sakura annoyed him. Her touch sent electric chills through his body that made him want to shove the kunoichi away in annoyance just as much he wanted to pull her closer for comfort.

Sasuke grit his teeth, both sides of the inner conflict making him feel painfully vulnerable and weak. He despised the thought that he wanted…no, needed someone like her. Attachments were a weakness. Attachments meant that there was just another way for the universe to inflict anguish. Love was a deviously sweet poison that would inevitably be ripped away.

Yet, at the same time, Sasuke hated his sensitivity. He knew that he was broken, that his desire to be alone was a flaw that others did not seem to possess. At his core, Sasuke knew he was a broken man made of nothing but contradictions. In everything, he was passionately needy, whether what he needed was independence, affection, or both.

The Uchiha debated with himself for several minutes whether he should wake Sakura and ask her to sleep on her own or not. At length, the argument was rendered moot. Sasuke knew it would be cruel to wake the beaten woman's sleep and exile her to cold loneliness. After all he had done, he owed her _this_ , at least. It was a small contrition, but it was worth the torment her touch inflicted.

Not for the first time that night, Sasuke marveled at the absurdity of his situation. Here he was, slumped in a cave next to a cozy fire as a vulnerable, naked woman cuddled him. What had he ever done to deserve such devotion and trust?

Baffled, Sasuke reminded himself that the answer was that he _didn't_ deserve it. He had done nothing but shove people away and hurt them for almost his entire life; most of all, Sakura herself. It was only fitting that he endure the same fate.

 _This confusion, this pain, this is what I deserve,_ Sasuke mused. _All of it._

He didn't sleep at all that night.

But neither did he move.

* * *

Sasuke returned to the clearing, his vision re-focusing on the kunoichi seated several dozen feet away from him. He had been staring at her the entire time, he knew. Hardly surprising.

Sakura was beautiful. There simply was no other way to say it, and the sentiment could never be overstated. At least, not to him. For Sasuke, Sakura was the epitome of perfection: she was loving, caring, kind, patient, and every other positive attribute one could associate to a person.

 _Everything I'm not,_ he told himself.

Sasuke had seen almost every part of Sakura's body while taking care of her, though he had tried his best not to look more than was strictly necessary. The Uchiha knew full well just how gorgeous the woman was. Her limbs were athletic and muscular while still retaining that lithe, feminine slimness. She was graceful and had glowing, vibrant skin Sasuke felt compulsions to caress. Her waist was maddeningly small and curvy, giving her a near-perfect hourglass shape. Her hair was clean and smelled like cherries…Sasuke's second favorite fruit, next to tomatoes. Her breasts were petite but delightfully perky, her lips were soft and inviting, her expressions could be as cute they were fierce, her hair looked silky and clean…Sasuke could have gone on and on describing his perceptions of Sakura forever.

There were times when it physically hurt that he couldn't let himself have her. And the fact that he knew she would submissively allow him to do whatever he pleased if he simply asked made it even more frustrating.

Still, if the woman's exterior flustered him, it was only because her interior was equally beautiful. If there was one thing Sasuke respected, it was the ability to wield power with purpose. Sakura was no sage of six paths like himself. However, that only raised his opinion of her even more. Sakura was a self-made woman: she had not been born as the reincarnation of the inventor of ninjutsu. She had not inherited legendary kekkai-genkkai, nor had the kunoichi been blessed with the powers of long-dead gods. No, everything that Sakura was had been earned by tooth and claw. There was a quiet nobility about this that Sasuke could not help but deeply admire. It fascinated him to no end that Sakura could snarl with rage while pummeling her enemies one second and smile sweetly the next. Even Sasuke, for all his power, found the latter beyond him.

It would have been inaccurate for Sasuke to say that he merely desired Sakura's body. Sure, he was a man who had hormonal needs…but that was only half of the equation. Countless times Sasuke had entertained the possibility of returning to Konoha and the loyal woman who he knew awaited him there. Perhaps he might even start a family, revive the Uchiha clan, and live out his days as peacefully as he could while trying to do Sakura justice by returning her passion with as much love as he could muster.

As Sasuke scrutinized Sakura, her vivacious aura became cold and dead. He saw her eyes blacken, her skin rot, and her scar-covered wounds bleed. She withered and died before his very eyes.

 _Sasuke-kun,_ the Uchiha imagined the woman's grey-blue lips say. _Why did you do this? Why did you let this happen, when I only loved you?_

A tear dripped down Sasuke's face. His mouth moved before he realized he was experiencing a mere sleep-deprived hallucination. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke forced the image of a dead Sakura away. It was swiftly replaced by the dead bodies of his parents.

 _That is why you can never know, Sakura,_ Sasuke told himself with a sad frown as he focused on the grim visual.

* * *

"Sasuke, are you ok?" Sakura said.

Sasuke jolted, waved a hand in front of his face, and looked at her. "What?" he asked.

"I said, are you ok?" Sakura reiterated with a concerned frown. "You were just standing there…"

"I'm fine."

Sakura eyed the Uchiha suspiciously. She decided against commenting on his obvious distraction, though. "Well, as I was saying, I think I'm up to a little sparring match, if you are," she said.

Sasuke considered this for a few moments, examined Sakura carefully, and nodded. "All right. Taijutsu only. No chakra."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she stood. "Fine."

The shinobi faced off and bowed.

A split second later, Sakura came in swinging.

* * *

"What are we going to do?" Naruto's clone heard Shizune ask.

"I don't know," Tsunade replied. Some of the next words were cut off, so the clone inched closer to the window sill and cupped its ear.

"…devote them all to uncovering as much as we can," Tsunade said. "If this Shin Uchiha is as dangerous as she described, then that should be our primary concern."

 _Uchiha?_ the clone thought. _Like Obito and Madara? No wonder Granny Tsunade has been acting weird lately…_

"I understand," a male voice Naruto did not recognize replied. "I'll get my squads on it right away."

"Likewise," another man said. "We'll check the minds of as many prisoners as we can."

"Thank you. Both of you. Yamakana-san, you have my permission to interrogate that bastard Oorochimaru, as well," Tsunade replied. "But start with the weaker subjects first."

The men acknowledged the orders, and then Naruto's clone heard the shuffling of feet.

 _Oorochimaru?_ it wondered. _Just what the hell is going on that they would need to talk to him, huh?! And who's 'she'?_

The room was a silent for a while. Tsunade broke it with a sigh.

"I'm worried, Shizune."

"So am I," the assistant replied. "From the sound of it, Sakura almost…"

"I know. If it hadn't been for Sasuke, it sounds like she would have. I knew I hadn't misjudged him. Still, it's that bastard who caused her to leave in the first place. Sometimes I don't know what to do about her…infatuation, Shizune."

The shadow clone inwardly recoiled. _Sakura! Sasuke!_ Just like its original, the clone wasn't the smartest shinobi out there by any metric. Still, it was able to piece the clues together. Evidently, Tsunade had lied to him about why Sakura had left the village. The betrayal stung him, but at the same time, the blonde had matured in recent years. He understood why his hokage had done it. Admittedly, if Naruto had known, he probably would have followed her.

In recent years, Sakura had become somewhat of a big sister to him. He no longer pined after her like he used to. Some things just weren't meant to be. In some corner of his heart, Naruto still loved Sakura and wondered what things could have been like. He loved Hinata though and would never betray her.

It was for this reason that the Naruto duplicate found its heart pounding with worry. Based on what it had heard, it seemed like Sakura had probably fought some powerful Uchiha named Shin and been saved by Sasuke.

 _Good job, Teme. I knew you could do good._ The fox-ninja smirked. It was obvious to everyone that those two belonged together. Well, everyone other than themselves, at least.

Still, Naruto was worried. It made sense that Tsunade was desperate to find information about this Shin, especially if Sakura had written that there was some way he might still be alive. He felt a sudden urge to rush off and find his pink-haired friend, who at that very moment might still be in danger. Rationally, though, he knew there was no way Tsunade would give him that information. He was supposed to be an important part of the trip to hidden sand, and it might be a moot point anyway. It was possible that Sakura hadn't told Tsunade where she was. It would be just like her and Sasuke to sacrifice themselves so that no one else could get hurt.

 _Damnit, you two!_ the clone thought. _You guys are awesome as always, but you need my help!_ _Don't you get that? Don't you remember Kakashi-sensei teaching us Tobi's rule?_

"…one thing I know for certain, it's that we can't tell Naruto about this," Shizune's voice interrupted the Naruto-copy's thoughts.

"Agreed," came the fifth hokage's reply.

Naruto's eye spasmed in annoyance. _Really?_ he bemoaned. _I need time to figure out how to handle this._

Conversation in the room hit a lull, so the clone turned around and prepared to slide down the skirt of the tower's top level. As it did, though, it came face to face with a looming ninja who was barely two inches away.

"Ah! Jeez, Kakashi-sensei!" the Naruto imitation complained as it jumped back in shock.

The masked jonin laughed from behind his mask. "Oh, I'm sorry about that. You don't like being spied on?"

The clone grit its teeth in annoyance. "Look, I saw a rinnegan hawk flying in. You know what that means, right?"

Kakashi stepped back and nodded.

"Right, so, I just had to know what happened. And I'm glad I did. You heard what Granny-Tsunade said, right?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Yeah. I wish I could say I was surprised. An Uchiha suddenly popping up and attacking Sasuke was pretty low on my list of possibilities, but I knew it might happen."

The clone frowned. "How can you be so non-challant when Sakura-chan almost…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Died? We're shinobi, Naruto. Death is always a strong possibility. Besides, Sakura can take care of herself. Especially with Sasuke around. You should know the truth of that from firsthand experience. Even if they did end up fighting an Uchiha freak."

"Wait a minute…" the clone said, its eyes in a thin line. "Tsunade didn't say anything about that guy being a freak."

Kakashi chuckled again and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, actually, about that…"

"You already knew."

"Caught red-handed," Kakashi said, pointing a finger sheepishly at the window above them.

Warily, the Naruto-copy scooted up to the sill and peered over the edge. There, standing in the office and chatting, was the real Kakashi. It swiveled back before the original could notice and faced its master's shadow clone, which was now advancing menacingly.

"You're not going to tell anyone about this or otherwise act on this information, right?" it asked while leaning over to peer at the crouched, orange-clad man.

"Uhhhh…" the addressee flailed.

Kakashi's clone put its hand in its pockets. "Right. Well, better swamp you with D-rank missions and training exercises while I still can, _Chunin._ Just to be safe, you know?"

The fox clone wore a mask of horror, then it put on a devious grin. "Not if I puff you out first," it blurted while forming a rasengan in one hand.

As it leaped forward with its palm outstretched, the Kakashi casually leaped backwards into midair and put its fingers together in the sign of kage bunshin. "If you're going to attack someone, don't announce it first," he warned, then disappeared in cloud of smoke.

Color drained from the Naruto clone's face. It let the rasengan slowly die, then cursed. "Idiot! Well, the original is gonna need to know about this anyway." It laughed aloud. "Poor bastard."

Then it too disappeared with a pop.

* * *

Sasuke swayed dexterously to one side as Sakura closed in on him. Her attack flew right past him, though not by much. The woman seemed to be as fast as she ever was, despite her condition. The Uchiha hadn't had to steady himself with his one arm but was close to needing it. The whoosh of air created by his opponent's fist slammed into him, blowing his bangs away from his face and exposing his left eye.

Sakura pivoted and kicked in crescent-shaped circle. Sasuke was faster than her, though, and jumped several feet backwards. The kunoichi frowned in annoyance at the way he somehow kept his cloak immaculately wrapped around his body as he did so.

"Are you just scared to hit a girl, or you going to fight me?" she taunted.

Sasuke straightened and narrowed his eyes. "This is a test for you. Not me."

"Shannaro!" Sakura roared.

Instead of charging forward with an uppercut like Sasuke expected, the woman threw a pair of kunai at him. He readied himself to leap upwards but realized he didn't need to. The weapons sailed past, missing by a wide margin.

Sasuke frowned. "Sakura, I think we'd better stop," he mumbled.

Sakura winked at him in response and leaped high into the air with a raised fist. Sasuke swept his cloak to the side as he charged towards her, preparing a move that would turn her own momentum against her and cause her to wind up pinned on the ground.

It didn't happen like the Uchiha expected. Sakura yanked at something midair, and the medic-nin somehow flew to his right side while still in midair. It was only when she had landed next to the kunai that Sasuke figured it out.

 _Damn, I would've seen the wire if I wasn't so tired,_ he lamented.

The Uchiha tried to figure out a counter, but his opponent was too fast. She hit the ground and swept out a leg, trying to take Sasuke's footing from beneath him. He would have stopped her, but he lacked an arm on that side. Ordinarily, Sasuke's new fighting style revolved around using perception, speed, and tactics to plan and re-adjust his position to make effective use of his left hand.

All of these were nullified by his overconfident state. There was nothing he could do to stop Sakura, so he let himself get hit and fall backwards. His shins ached, but he used the momentum to brace himself, pivot upside-down, and flip away from the kunoichi at an angle.

Sakura was in front of him as his feet hit the ground. She was slowing by the second, but until the time came that she would stop completely, Sasuke knew that she would be relentless.

He ducked a series of jabs, weaved around a hook, and slapped aside a few kicks. With his repositioning, the kunoichi's waning energy could not outmaneuver his lack of a right arm. She just kept attacking, making up for her handicap with sheer skill and determination.

Sasuke smiled. He had to admit, she was fun to watch like this. Maybe he'd let Sakura stay with him long enough to have a proper duel after all.

Sakura swung back a heavy left-punch. Sasuke saw it coming far ahead of time and calculated a good trajectory with which to launch a counterattack that would end the fight.

Before the Uchiha could execute it, Sakura rapidly changed motions. Her attack revealed itself to be a feint, and she used her own top-heavy, leaned momentum to swing a savage right kick in a circle. Sasuke had already started rolling past the fist, which put him in a perfect collision course with the strike.

For a second, he thought about using a shinra tensei to repel the hit.

He changed his mind. Sasuke pretended to be confused and let the kick hit him. He stumbled back, groaning, and was legitimately surprised when Sakura still wasn't done. The kunoichi did a full revolution and followed up by planting a foot on his chest.

And then, she _shoved._

Wind whipped sharply at Sasuke as he sailed back through the air. He was lightheaded and confused for a split second. Then, his eyes shot wide open as he remembered the tree-trunk that was behind him.

 _Idiot,_ he cursed himself before slamming solidly into the pillar of wood.

There was a subsonic boom, and the next thing Sasuke knew, he was leaning against something hard. His head and back ached and he was dizzy. Stars danced in front of his vision as his head lolled for a few seconds. The Uchiha saw Sakura fall back on the ground, her arms and legs spread wide.

Sasuke frowned and tried to take a step forward, but his legs didn't work. It took him a moment to realize that he was sitting and not standing.

 _Damn. She's stronger than I thought._ The shinobi knew he was in a completely different class and would easily obliterate Sakura if it ever came down to a serious fight, but the fact that he'd lost still injured his pride.

Sasuke groaned and managed to stand. He wiped the blood from his nose and limped over to Sakura. _I probably deserved that, though,_ he thought. _Let her work some frustration out._

"Sakura?" Sasuke called, more worried about her state than his own. When he finally stood over the woman and saw her smiling face, he laughed out loud despite himself. She was unconscious but obviously so, _so_ self-satisfied.

"Fucking cheater," he half-complained while taking a seat next to the kunoichi. "Last time I ever fight you in a straight-up taijutsu match."

* * *

They spent the next two days in much the same way as they had spent the previous ones. Sasuke and Sakura trained, fought, and talked between meals, hunting, scouting, meditating, and the kunoichi healing herself with her ever-increasing chakra reserves.

Even Sasuke found himself growing uncomfortable with the tension between him, so he broke it by asking questions and answering Sakura's own. The duo talked about the battles they had fought: Sasuke told her about fighting Deidara and Danzo (two kills he did not regret and for which she did not blame him), just as Sakura told him about fighting Sasori.

As they compared notes, Sasuke grew more and more interested in the kunoichi. The Uchiha had already known that his ex-team mate had undergone changes, but the harrows Sakura spoke of only boosted his respect for her. In his blind rage, Sasuke had never imagined some of the experiences that the woman might have had during the war. To know that she was strong even as a chunin (she was now a jonin, he learned) was utterly mystifying.

Sasuke spoke a little of his travels. He explained that he had drifted from place to place at first, most avoiding contact until he was brave enough to show his face around people. Eventually, hostile shinobi began to show up, but not everything was violence and fear and hate. There those that accepted Sasuke and those that didn't. He studied at shrines and temples whenever they would let him, seeking whatever wisdom he could in the hopes that it might quell the dark feelings in his heart. It had helped, Sasuke told her, but not entirely.

Quietly, the Uchiha suspected he would never heal.

In addition, Sasuke had visited almost all the famous ninja lands and just about every hidden village other than the cloud. At times he disguised himself, and at others he approached dojos peacefully and politely. When people didn't yell at him to leave or look terrified, he quietly learned whatever ninjutsu they were willing to teach him. In this manner, Sasuke told Sakura that he had advanced all five of his elemental ninjutsu up to chunin level, at least.

Whenever Sakura asked about or commented on a report of his movements she had heard about, Sasuke told her the full story. He spoke of everything from a deadly game of cat and mouse he had played with an arms dealer, to the bizarre tale of how he had been swept up in a lover's quarrel.

It felt strangely satisfying for him to confess some of those experiences. These stories of trying his best to use his powers for the benefit of others were his most common ones. Next to that, the rinnegan-user had spent most of his time trying to advance his proficiency in the six paths. Although Sasuke would never quite be on Pain's level, he knew he could certainly approach it. By using them in combination with his speed, fire styles, chidori, sharingan, and susanoo', Sasuke was sure that, other than perhaps Naruto, he was easily the most dangerous person alive—for better or worse.

Sakura was wide-eyed and patient through all his tales. Then, when there was little left to say, she told him about life in the Leaf village. She said that everyone was happy and prosperous after the war, that missions had slowed down due to the lack of political hostilities, and that the shinobi system was approaching a new age where the five nations worked together to protect civilians from criminals and rogue ninja. Sakura described how she had risen the ranks of the hospital until she was chief medical officer, how Naruto had been elevated to chunin, then promptly failed the jonin exam due to rambunctiousness, and how Tsunade was grooming Kakashi to soon take over her role.

Sasuke listened patiently to everything Sakura had to say, taking secret pleasure in knowing that life shined on without him—just as it should. It made him genuinely happy to know that he wasn't needed and that his actions hadn't steered the world away from the noble course Naruto had envisioned.

 _Despite my best efforts,_ Sasuke admonished himself.

By the fourth day, even Sakura's scars had healed to such an extent that he wouldn't have been able to tell something had happened. Her chakra level was nearly full as well, and their spars were so dangerous that they had to call them off. After all, there was little in Sasuke's repertoire of skills that wasn't instantly lethal. And, although satisfied with her recovery, Sasuke had insisted they wait out the complete fourth day before deciding what to do next.

In truth, Sasuke did know what he wanted to do. Although he admitted to himself that their time together had been the most pleasant he had experienced since being a genin, it was not meant to last. Shin was probably still out there. The relatives of those killed by the crazed man at the resort would be screaming for vengeance, and there was enough evidence and fear in to world to blame Sasuke for it. In fact, it was highly likely that, in addition to dealing with Shin, he'd have to contend with shinobi squads as well. Kill the former, evade the latter.

Moreover, there was still the matter of the Otsutsuki-related clues he needed to investigate. Based on the few conflicts he'd had while chasing down relevant leads on the secretive and all-powerful clan, Sasuke knew that it would be better if Sakura didn't come along. Her place was in the village, happy and safe in her old life. It would be a grave injustice for her to die protecting him. Better for Sasuke to give his own life trying to safeguard the world against alien invaders than anyone else—especially her.

He'd never forgive himself.

 _Enough is enough. No more death but my own,_ Sasuke told himself on the eve of the fourth night. He briefly considered waking Sakura up and at least telling her why he was leaving. Ultimately, the Uchiha decided against it. The kunoichi would never understand, and all that would accomplish would be to start a big argument that Sasuke didn't have the patience or the time for. He regretted that this one last, final abandonment would hurt her, but Sasuke also knew that it had been inevitable. He wasn't good for her. Nothing good could come from them being together, as much as the last Uchiha desperately wished otherwise. Sakura would curse him and cry, but it was for her own good.

And, perhaps, hopefully, she just might eventually realize that and move on. Get over him. Choose someone else to give her heart to. _Her_ pain at least had a chance to fade, while his did not.

That was the burden Sasuke knew he was destined to bear. His punishment for a life of mistakes. He was satisfied with it, in a way.

The thought of another man touching her, of loving and kissing and holding _his_ Sakura, it made him sick. It made Sasuke wanted to grind a boulder to dust with his knuckles and then confess everything to her.

But he refrained. It was not his place to steal the gem of Sakura from the world. She would be wasted on scum like himself.

"Goodbye, Sakura," Sasuke whispered so quietly even he could barely hear it. "And…I'm sorry," he added over his shoulder. There was one backward glance as he left the cave, and it was the most painful thing Sasuke had ever done in his entire life. It felt as if his neck were bound to Sakura's sleeping form by an intangible string of glue, and it was only with an intense effort that he was able to quietly seal the cave entrance once more.

He didn't look away until the rock wall completely stole the treasure of Sakura from his vision for the final time.

Then, as silent and as invisible as the living shadow of a person he was, Sasuke disappeared into the cold night.


	9. Chapter 9

The canyon was deep. Brownish, rocky depths of stone were perceivable to Sasuke, though he could hardly make out specific details through the darkness, even with his sharingan. He knew there could have been anything down there: traps, hidden enemies, or worse.

As such, the pensive Uchiha decided to study the rock formation—which was beginning to seem hardly natural—for several minutes longer. His red and purple orbs swept methodically over the area, scanning every outcropping, crag, boulder, and ledge for possible danger.

These tasks of sight were routine for Sasuke. From his earliest days as an aspiring shinobi, his father had routinely forced him to lie still simply _perceive._ After hours upon hours of long, boring, and mind-shreddingly tedious training in this manner, the juvenile Uchiha had acquired the ability to notice even the tiniest and most insignificant details about his environment. Eventually, he had stopped earning lectures and beratements from his father for being unable to tell the specific shade of green from a leaf freshly picked from one that had fallen an hour prior.

As much as Sasuke had resented the elder Uchiha for his strict and merciless training, he had grown to appreciate the usefulness of those savage lessons. Compared to the misery of his boyhood, sitting still for several minutes while assessing an area for danger was just as routine as washing his hand or brushing his teeth. Even without the power of his doujutsu, nothing had so far escaped Sasuke's notice.

And it wasn't a brag. It was just fact.

Wordlessly, Sasuke deactivated the red light in his left eye, brushed hair back in front of his right, and sighed. He had identified no less than sixteen ways that even an experienced jonin might be slain by defenses embedded in the earthly crevasse's walls. Making his way down would be annoying and tedious, requiring him to avoid using any of the decent foot holds and take a winding, circuitous route.

The Uchiha cautiously emerged from his concealed position among the nearby bushes, his only hand lightly gripping the handle of his katana. The wall of foliage was only several feet away from the lip, but he still didn't feel comfortable exposing himself. Sasuke had grown accustomed to hiding among forests and other natural terrain. Doing so for several years had helped keep eye-hunters or vengeful Otsutsuki cultists from finding him. In addition, staying out of eyesight was beneficial to someone who preferred to avoid human contact in general. Only on very rare occasions had Sasuke traversed wide, open areas like the plateau in front of him or the badlands that stretched on the other side of the dark chasm.

Luckily, no sign of intelligent life presented itself. Sasuke approached the edge, looked down one final time, and stepped over it.

Or rather, he stepped onto the vertical surface below him and walked downwards. Rather than slipping and falling as most humans would have, the Uchiha's feet stuck solidly to the rocky surface just as easily as they would with ordinary horizontal earth. Sasuke's cloak and hair swayed, and were affected by gravity, but the rest of him stood tall and straight as the man calmly treaded onward.

A few seconds later, Sasuke made a mental note of the trap that was supposed to be in front of him. Anyone watching would have seen him turn, start walking sideways along the wall like a spider, and curve slowly around a discolored path of stone. He repeated this process many times, changing direction erratically without apparent rhyme or reason. He wound past an avalanche trigger there, sidestepped shuriken barrages here, avoided falling slabs, collapsing stairs, and more.

After nearly half an hour of careful movement, the Uchiha had made his way nearly three-fourths of the way down. The edge of darkness loomed beneath him, and just above it was the destination he sought. The construction was perched atop a narrow plateau, and although its visage was distorted by the awkward angle at which Sasuke viewed it, he could tell it was the place he had been seeking from his notes.

The only problem: a large, gaping gash in the side of the canyon that encircled the Otsutsuki temple in a perfect half-oval. Sasuke frowned, not having noticed this feature before. Whatever it was, the carving had been made by intelligent hands with a lot of chakra. It was carefully concealed from above, due to the angle at which it had been cut, and no doubt possessed a devious defense mechanism.

Sasuke studied it for a few moments, then decided on a course of action. Shunting a burst of chakra into his feet, the man kicked off the rock wall where he was perched. He launched gracefully into the air like a black-tipped spear, somersaulted, and came face-to-face with the deep gouge at the same instant his body passed it.

There was a red flash of energy, and suddenly, a thin, crimson field lashed out. It came at Sasuke in a perfect oval shape, the curving blade traveling nearly faster than he could see.

An instant before the attack bisected him, Sasuke's arm whipped out from beneath his dark blue cloak. The strange humming sound of the Deva path filled the air has he held his palms out in a 'stop' gesture. Immediately, gravitational fields of immense strength halted the glowing oval of energy, which shimmered and vibrated as if angry that its kill had been denied.

Sasuke smirked, his brow twitching slightly with the effort of his concentration. He could not use the Shinra Tensei as effectively as Pain had, but his training had allowed him to wield the power long enough for the needs of his current situation. As he fell downward, the Uchiha maintained the hold until he had passed beneath the lower edge of the defensive structure, then released it.

As Sasuke plummeted, he spared a quick glance over his shoulder. He saw the angry, curved wall of destruction continue its course, slicing through the air. It disappeared of its own accord moments before impacting the far limits of the canyon.

Without even looking down, Sasuke focused more chakra into his feet and legs. It helped his body absorb more of the impact when he landed. It still hurt, though only barely, relatively speaking for a shinobi of his experience.

 _Sakura wouldn't have felt a thing,_ he thought bitterly. It annoyed Sasuke to no end when he was forced to confront the fact that someone was better at something than he was. Competitive by nature and programmed to respect power above all else by both Itachi and Oorochimaru, the adult Uchiha found it difficult to push his annoyance away. He managed to succeed, though only barely. His years of exile had helped him re-wire some of his shortcomings, it seemed.

Of course, his newfound humility came a lot easier whenever Sasuke thought of something involving Sakura. For a reason he hated and told himself that he didn't quite understand, it was easier to let go of the pain, anger, and regret that was associated with his instinctual lust for power around Sakura. Instead of finding himself resenting her for being better at him in certain areas, Sasuke found his icy emotions melting into begrudging respect and admiration—a state that he despised just as much as the dark feelings his exile had been intended to purge him of.

 _Attachment is a weakness,_ the man reminded himself as he refocused on the temple spread before him.

While no immediate dangers presented themselves, the architecture of the building lent it an eerie and frightening presence that affected even the stoic demeanor of Sasuke. A pair of stone pillars supported a massive, dim archway. Carved into the pillars were equally large statues of two individuals, one male, and one female.

Both shapes possessed horns and swirling, spiral irises. Their faces had an androgynous, angular kind of beauty that spoke of something beyond the mortal world. They were dressed in what were obviously long, flowing robes that swirled in the wind. Each statue had one hand extended flat in a symbol of offering, while the other wielded a tall, stiff rod.

Sasuke recognized the images for what they were: Otsutsuki. The allusions in their faces to the features of Kaguya were obvious, and their weapons were representative of the black receiving rods associated with the Outer Path. Lastly, there were their eyes: rinnegan, like Sasuke's own.

 _Well, except for one key difference,_ Sasuke smirked, taking pride in the fact that even these gods did not possess the swirling tomoe that were present in Sasuke's own, granting him unique rinnesharingan abilities that could not be replicated.

"I do not fear you," Sasuke spoke as he stepped forward.

The statues did not answer.

As he walked towards the looming archway, Sasuke pondered the scene in front of him. Clearly, these edifices were ones of worship…and caution. The Uchiha had uncovered no hard evidence thus far to suggest that there were other Otsutsuki in the universe besides Kaguya, let alone any who had visited the shinobi world. For all he knew, the Otsutsuki were a dying (or dead) clan, leaving Kaguya their only survivor.

Sasuke knew that the statues in front of him could not be taken as a sign to the contrary. They could just as easily have been artistic imaginations by primitive humans of what other beings like Kaguya must have looked like.

Still, something about the situation just didn't sit right with him. As Sasuke reached the entrance to the temple and looked up, he mentally reviewed the facts. Kaguya had intended to harvest the world's humans to essentially use them as chakra batteries, which served the dual purpose of a disposable shock-troop army. The existence of White Zetsu prior to Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi indicated that the alien woman had been experimenting…in other words, Kaguya had been developing a new method, rapidly, and by any means possible. It was a tactic that reeked of desperation, a theory that matched with her willingness to do something as drastic as eating the world chakra fruit and absorb the nightmarish ten-tails.

The confluence of these facts did not bode well for Sasuke. Adding them up, he had a strong suspicion that there was something else out there in the corners of humanity's reality: whether it was more Otsutsuki that Kaguya had been preparing to fight, or something even worse.

A brief feeling of trepidation washed over Sasuke as he considered this possibility, but the man shook it away nearly instantly. Now was not the time for mindless conjecturing. His whole purpose in visiting ancient ruins like these was to acquire more explicit information. Soon enough, Sasuke knew he would have concrete answers.

Or so he hoped, anyway.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu," Sasuke calmly spoke while extending a pair of clenched, vertical fingers to his mouth. A small ball of flame instantly coalesced from his lips, passing harmlessly over the skin on his hand. He puffed once, and the fiery projectile shot forth in a perfectly straight line.

The orange glow of fire revealed a gently-sloping downward passage made of ancient, worked stone worn into rough edges by time. Sasuke captured a brief mental image of the passage's shape, along with various other features, such as side doors and connecting alleys. Unlit wall sconces lined one edge of the tunnel and bizarre carvings of unreadable language accompanied macabre religious images.

His curiosity piqued, Sasuke shot forth several more bursts of fire ninjutsu, using their light to confirm the layout before him. He adjusted the angle of each bolt before they collided with the sloped roof and died, growing closer to seeing the true scope of the building each time. Eventually, he had scouted the breadth of the tunnel and had a pretty good idea of how far down it went.

 _Deep._

Sasuke paused for a moment, then formed a series of odd shapes with his hand. Although he had mastered the art of one-handed seals, it was still much slower, not to mention more chakra-intensive, to perform ninjutsu that he hadn't already learned before losing a limb. True, he could have summoned a shadow clone or grown an Asura path arm to assist, but it really wasn't worth the extra chakra unless he was performing a difficult and powerful technique.

As the jutsu activated, Sasuke did not speak its name as he had with the fireball. For an expert like himself, who could copy, learn, perfect, and invent any style, the practice of speaking the technique for extra focus was irrelevant. It was only for sentimental reasons that he had verbally named the fireball; his signature, and first, ability.

Sasuke's hand dropped to his side, which was now surrounded by a sheathe of orange fire. As he drew his sword, the flames did not lick at his clothing. Rather, they flowed like liquid along his digits and around, _into_ the sword, giving it a fiery aura not unlike the chidori he normally infused it with.

Holding up the sword as a source of light, Sasuke entered the dark tunnel. His activated sharingan peered carefully at the scenery around him, searching for threats as he studied the carvings along the walls.

Sasuke attempted to read the symbols as he walked but met no success. Although he could physically view the alphabet with the power of his rinnegan, preventing the letters from becoming shifting lines of headache-inducing genjutsu, he could only barely understand their content. During the past few years he had uncovered several Otsutsuki scrolls, as well as various writings produced by cultists that, surprisingly, still existed in dark corners of the world. After storming these sacred places, fighting Zetsu, and battling demented worshippers, Sasuke had tried to use them to learn what he could about the Otsutsuki language. So far, he had made little progress. While intelligent, scholarly pursuits had never been his forte. Even more significantly, Sasuke efforts were hindered by constantly having to be on the move, fighting his hunters, and training to master his rinnegan.

With any luck, his struggles would eventually bear fruit.

The images, Sasuke noted, were much easier to interpret. Combined with the one or two phrases next to many of them that he could actually read, Sasuke was able to guess at their significance. Most depicted Kaguya herself, warning of her destructive powers, her godlike glory, and counseling humble worship before her. He saw her flying above cities, stabbing people with bones that turned them to ash, commanding legions of prostrate followers, and even more disturbing tales.

As the Uchiha proceeded further along the tunnel, only stopping to briefly peer at the side passages—mostly living quarters and storerooms—it became apparent that his descent into the temple was a trek of history.

By the time the entrance behind him had faded into a mere pinpoint of light, Sasuke had witnessed many carvings of the very same events he and Naruto had learned of during the ninja war. He saw the birth of two Otsutsuki-resembling children: Hagoromo and Hamura themselves. At first, the walls spoke in a reverent tone of these children, displaying them in glorious light.

However, they soon transitioned into images showing the epic battle between these sons and Kaguya herself, the latter ultimately defeated and sealed into the moon. Hamura disappeared and Hagoromo, who the symbols and artwork clearly referenced in a near-demonic light, went on to travel the land before spawning his own demon offspring. Indra and Ashura appeared before Sasuke, then went on to tear the land apart with their viscous feuding.

 _Hello, ancestor,_ Sasuke thought as he scrutinized the signs and artistic renderings of the man who had invented ninjutsu. _It seems we've both made the same mistakes. Perhaps these people were right to speak of you in this way._ Sasuke turned his head to look at Ashura. _Though, you, like the dobe, are not deserving of this derision._

Sasuke let his thoughts wander, drifting among the clouds of past sins for a while longer before turning away and continuing his descent. He wasn't far from the bottom, now. Up ahead, the man could see the tunnel evening out and coming to a stop at a landing from which pale light poured. The historical (though heavily biased) carvings stopped, becoming simple bricks as the walls ballooned out into what was clearly a circular cavern beyond.

Readying himself for anything, Sasuke entered the room.

What he saw surprised him.

A large, cavernous area loomed before him, stretching upward for what must have been nearly a two hundred feet. Stalactites and stalagmites dotted the floors and ceilings, small droplets of water that slowly dripped from above showing their age. Striations of multicolored rocks cascaded upward from a central point on the floor, the hues of each layer perfectly congruent between the lower and upper halves of the room. Sasuke noted that it was perfectly circular as well aside from small imperfections: rocky outcroppings, divots filled with water, and cracks ranging from tiny to massive.

The lone Uchiha was awed by the sight, but he didn't show it. Especially since what stared at him from across the chamber was odder still.

It was another statue. This one was much smaller than its oversized cousins at the entrance to the temple. It bore the same graceful features befitting a generic Otsutsuki replica, save for one: a glowing, purple eye embedded in the stony forehead.

Sasuke twitched in surprise and shock. A cold chill ran down his spine, and he immediately readied himself in a defensive stance. The Uchiha trained his activated sharingan on the eye, assessing it for signs of chakra to indicate that it was real. It took him the span of a heartbeat—a tense, frightening, painful heartbeat—to tell that it was not.

Sasuke visibly relaxed and stood normally once again, though he did not let his guard down completely. It was evident that the eye was made of ordinary stone, and had perhaps been merely painted to resemble the real thing. No chakra emanated from the ocular organ, and if it was somehow real tissue, then it wasn't active. For all he knew, the eye could be long dead or even a mere decoration.

Still, Sasuke didn't like the idea of that thing being there. He'd never encountered a true place of worship from the actual period of Kaguya's reign before. Adrenaline pounded in his veins and beads of sweat began to form on Sasuke's skin. His heart raced. However, he forced himself to project a calm, confident demeanor, and took a step forward.

When nothing happened, the shinobi took another, and another, stopping for several seconds between each. It was unclear if the eye was intelligent and could actually see him or not. The prospect didn't seem likely, given that no chakra hummed invisibly around it, but Sasuke wasn't ready to dismiss anything as impossible just yet. He knew next to nothing about the Otsutsuki clan's defenses, after all. It wasn't unthinkable that the eye was tied to some sort of defense mechanism, automaton, or trap. For what other purpose would the builders have put the eye trained right on the entrance like that?

Studying the eye with both of his own as he stepped forward, Sasuke crept slowly along the floor until he was standing in the proximate middle. He risked a quick glance down at the long, rectangular table that lay at waist height in front of the statue. Sitting on top of it was a sealed, dusty glass tube with an ancient-looking scroll preserved inside. A pair of torches that emitted a bizarre, eternal blue light framed the precious case.

Mentally, Sasuke rejoiced. Outwardly, he grimaced. He was far too cynical to expect such a treasure to go unguarded, even for millennia. There had to be some catch…he just couldn't think of what it might be.

Flicking his eyes back at the statue's rinnegan, Sasuke was immensely relieved to note that the black pupil hadn't shifted of its own accord while he had been looking away. Instead, it just peered impassively ahead as if the Uchiha weren't even there.

Sasuke sighed. _Thank Kami,_ he thought. Then the man crouched, watching the statue for even the slightest sign of movement.

 _Now, just a little closer…_

With an exertion of will, the Uchiha let his right eye slip into its mangekyo form. He was ready for…

The eye twitched.

Sasuke's heart leapt into his throat as an electric, cold jolt washed over his entire body. He took a sharp intake of breath and prepared to leap backwards, katana drawn.

Too late. The black pupil had already fixed its gaze upon him. Faster than Sasuke could think, let alone act, the swirling tomoe of sharingan appeared within its purple lines.

He had barely processed his fear and shock by the time his whole world had unraveled.

* * *

Naruto frowned, pacing back and forth excitedly. The soft grass of the training ground crumpled under his bare feet, but the jinchuriki was too lost in thought to appreciate the sensation. Likewise, even the peaceful, burbling river behind him, the chirped rhythm of birdsong, and the cool, gentle caress of autumn wind were all drowned out by the inner turmoil of his thoughts.

Sakura-chan and the Teme were in trouble. There was simply no other way to describe the situation. His friends needed him, and that meant Naruto had to do _something._

 _But what?!_ The annoyed chunin screamed inside his own head.

What was he supposed to do? It wasn't as if he could abandon the village to find his friends…that crime had been the start of his best friend's dark path in first place. Naruto knew he would have been a hypocrite to seriously consider the idea, after he had cussed Sasuke out, fought, and pleaded with him over the very same thing all those years ago.

Yet, it wasn't as if the blonde could do _nothing,_ either. From the sound of things, Sakura had almost died, and there was some psycho bastard named Shin—who was an Uchiha with the sharingan, no less—hunting them. If that asshole had hurt Sakura that badly once, there was a chance he could do it again…a scary thought, indeed. Especially if this Shin was as bad as Madara or Obito had been.

Naruto shivered and pushed the thought away. It was too horrible to contemplate.

It wasn't that he doubted Sasuke's ability (or willingness) to protect Sakura. And, the potential future hokage had to admit, it did feel a bit wrong to insinuate that Sakura couldn't handle herself, like Grandma Tsunade had said. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't _right,_ leaving those two out there, alone. Couldn't she have at least sent out a team of Jonin to find them or something?

Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned at an obnoxiously loud volume. Tsunade was always doing weird stuff like this: making decisions he didn't agree with or even understand.

 _I need to learn more about what it means to be a hokage,_ Naruto thought to himself. He stopped his pacing and looked up at the sky. _I guess if she's making a tough call like this, there has to be a logical reason why._

"But what is it!?" Naruto growled while throwing up his hands in frustration. It wasn't like he could storm into the woman's office and harass her into telling him. He'd get in massive trouble for doing so, and it probably wouldn't work anyway (it never did), and…

"Something wrong, Naruto?"

The orange-clad ninja jumped, whipped his head around in shock, and saw Kakashi standing right behind him. He jumped backward.

"Ah, no, I was just, um…" he mumbled. "I was just frustrated, you know? Because…because Ichiraku's ran out of ramen…yeah, that's it! So…"

Kakashi raised one eyebrow as he studied his student skeptically. "Ran out of ramen, huh?"

Naruto feebly nodded.

Kakashi sighed. "Well, I find that hard to believe, since they literally keep pallets of ramen in the back of the shop with a signs on it that say 'Naruto only'."

A surprised hand shot up to the Uzumaki's mouth as he gasped. "How did you know about that?" Then, when he realized what he'd just admitted: "I mean…huh. That old man must have lied to me for some reason. Sorry, sensei. I've got to go get to the bottom of this."

"You look kind of stressed, Naruto." Kakashi commented, blurring into place in front of Naruto as the ladder tried to escape. "You wouldn't be worrying about something you weren't supposed to hear, now would you?"

Naruto chuckled nervously as a massive droplet of sweat fell down his face. "Eh, well, I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about…"

Kakashi nodded. "Right. Well, just in case, I think it's time I give you another training assignment."

The rambunctious blonde rolled his eyes and sagged visibly. "C'mon, sensei. Do you really think I need more training at this point?"

Naruto didn't mean to sound arrogant, but he had to admit that he had a point. It was ridiculous to think that Kakashi, who was now completely below his league (along with almost every other shinobi on the planet) actually had something to teach or challenge him with anymore.

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "Tsk. Not everything is about raw power and force," the silver-haired jonin shot back. "Sure, you may be able to shred meteors with rasengans, but your basic ninjutsu…well, I'm sorry to say this, but it still sucks. There are going to be times when you can't just simply kill your enemy, or you're not at your full strength, or any number of other circumstances demanding stealth and discretion."

Naruto's head dropped. His sensei had a point. There had been a valid reason he'd failed his jonin test, after all. Those things weren't just about fighting skill, but also cleverness and wisdom, things that mattered just as much to non-wartime shinobi. It wasn't often that people got to fight a goddess. Most of the time, routine missions involved captures, escorts, gathering intelligence, et cetera.

"Alright. I see your point," Naruto admitted a little hesitantly. Then, seemingly finding a new wellspring of determination and energy, he pumped his fist. "Whatever you've got for me, I won't give up. Believe it."

Kakashi chuckled. "I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about this," the old man said. "I hope you can maintain that attitude throughout this training."

It was Naruto's turn to quirk an eyebrow. "Eh?"

Kakashi held up a string of ninja wire with dozens of kunai on it. "I'm going to throw these at you, and you're going to dodge them until I run out."

"That's all?" Naruto complained. There was a flash of fiery orange energy, and the blonde was suddenly surrounded by his trademark six paths kurama sage mode aura, complete with truthseeker orbs. "Too easy."

The former leader of team 7 held up a wagging finger. "Sorry, can't let you use that."

Naruto harrumphed, and removed his six paths mode.

"Or the beast cloak."

Another grunt, and the orange fire was gone.

Kakashi sighed. "Basic sage mode too."

"What! That's everything!" he blurted, then deactivated that power as well, causing the froglike slits in his eyes to revert to normal. "At least I still have my…"

"Nope. Not that either," Kakashi said, slapping away Naruto's kage bunshin sign.

The blonde's jaw dropped. "Really? But that's my signature move…I can't…" he fumbled. Going without clones just felt so…utterly wrong to him. Naruto was so used to seeing other Narutos darting around on the battlefield supporting him that he felt naked at the prospect of going into combat without knowing he could fall back on support from…well, himself.

He shuddered, then calmly put his hands at his side. "Wow, sensei, this must be some really intense training."

Kakashi nodded. "It will be. That's the whole point of this, Naruto. I want to simulate a situation where you don't have chakra for whatever reason and have to rely on nothing but your speed and wits. As a shinobi, that can, and _will_ happen at some point. I guarantee it."

Naruto nodded. "I think I get it. When do we start?"

Kakashi aimlessly chucked a knife at him, which Naruto was too surprised to more than barely dodge.

"Hey, hey! That's not fair."

"If you think that's unfair, you're really not going to like what I'm going to say next."

Naruto frowned. "What could possibly be worse than not being able to use my jutsu?"

The outline of a slow, demented grin spread on Kakashi's face beneath his mask. Naruto practically recoiled in fear and decided that it was the most horrifying thing he had ever seen.

As he did so, almost a dozen shadows blurred and landed behind Kakashi, revealing the forms of each and every remaining member of the Konoha 11. They all wore devious smirks and carried armloads of kunai.

"Nothing really," Kakashi answered with his too-cool-for-everything tone. "Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot to mention: I asked everyone else from the old teams to help me out. I'm sure you won't mind, Mr. _Future Hokage."_

Naruto leaped back and contorted in shock, his face utterly pale. "Y-you too, Hinata?"

The Hyuga girl blushed and looked away nervously. "I'm sorry, Naruto," she whispered sweetly, "but Kakashi-sensei was so persuasive and he said it could really help you out and…"

"Ughh. Times' up. Let's do this already!" Kiba growled impatiently, cocking back a handful of fanned blades.

Akamaru barked his agreement.

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes. "This is such a drag, and it's going to eat up my whole day, too," the genius Nara complained. "Oh well, I'll just have to get you good for this, Naruto."

Tenten laughed and held up a scroll, which promptly unfurled. An array of summoning symbols flashed, each releasing a stream of kunai with a puff of smoke. Naruto watched with abject horror as each sigil poured blades upon blades upon blades from it for several seconds until there was a massive mound of several hundred laying on the ground in front of the kunoichi.

"Here you go, Kakashi," she joked, gesturing at the absurdly large stockpile with perverse glee.

The jinchuriki shrinked away from the assembly of poised attackers. "Wait, guys, we can talk this out…"

But no one was listening. All Naruto could do was scream as a never-ending barrage of kunai sailed towards him, littering every inch of the ground behind him as he ran for his dear life.

"Oh yeah, one more thing!" Kakashi called after the dust cloud that obscured Naruto's rapidly-retreating body. "You should watch out, because I gave them permission to use full chakra…"

The wizened jonin was fairly certain every man, woman, and child in Konoha heard Naruto's cry of sheer terror that day.

* * *

Swirls of color flickered across Sasuke's vision, coalescing into spiraling arms made up of thousands of sparkling pinpoints. The earth below him sluiced away, mud-like, and he felt his limp body being drawn upwards by an inexorable force—up and away, far into the night sky until the Uchiha was floating helplessly in the cold, empty void of space.

As he watched, dumbfounded, the spirals grew larger still and more numerous. Then they exploded into an unthinkably beautiful rainbow whose colors were of such magnificent variance that his eyes began to throb with a dull ache.

Sasuke tried to blink and then to shield his eyes, but neither action was successful. It was if his body had been frozen, rendered numb and unresponsive to his panicked commands. He felt another wave of sharp fear rise in his chest, but he could not even voice the emotion in the form of a scream. All he could do was watch.

The Uchiha didn't know how long he floated there, waiting silently as the spiraling arms mocked him with their vast complexity. It could have been hours, days or even years: the sensation of time was rendered meaningless in the world of genjutsu.

Eventually, Sasuke noticed dreamily, as his sense of identity and agency came rushing back to him, the arms had begun to shrink. _No…_ the shinobi thought, _I'm getting closer._

It wasn't long until one system of blinking, revolving lights had completely enveloped him, blotting out all others. It was at this point that Sasuke was finally able to recall his brief lessons in astronomy and discern that the lights were stars, and that each was surrounded by differing numbers of rocky orbs: planets, like his own.

 _What…is…this…_ the Uchiha thought painfully, every exertion of his mind coming at a dire cost of concentration and mental energy. It was as if his brain had become pliable mush, so overwhelmed was it by the disrupting chakra that flowed through his physical body in the real world. Vaguely, the ebon-haired ninja considered an attempt to break free of the effect but was barely able to complete the thought.

That was when he saw them. Trees, massive ones, sprouting up from the ground of those few planets before him that were capable of supporting life. And even so, their numbers were vast, boughs growing tall and strong, reaching higher and higher, reaching up to the sky…reaching up to _him._

Sasuke could feel the sheer power contained within those branches; nearly limitless reserves of otherworldly chakra. Each tree was an ocean of energy in itself, promising the fulfilment of any wish or goal that one could imagine beneath their dark depths. The possibilities astounded him, and the former leaf shinobi felt his brain exploding as they washed over him like a tidal wave.

This state, too, persisted for an indeterminate amount of time, the sensation of incontestable power and freedom agonizing in its ecstasy. Sasuke was a god, presiding over a galaxy that was his to rule as he saw fit. With the trees... _his_ trees, none were capable of even coming close challenging him.

Amid this overpowering stream, a single grain of an idea stood out to him. Sasuke instinctively reached for it without thinking. As he did so, the multitude of trees faded away, dust on the wind, their promises forgotten. Only one planet appeared before him now, and the last Uchiha somehow _knew_ that it was the planet of his birth.

The image rushed past him, details magnifying in front of his eyes in a blurry mess until Sasuke acquired a singular moment in time and space.

It was the Uchiha clan's mini-village within Konoha, as it had been on the night of the massacre all those years ago.

The bodies were fresh, still bleeding or smoking as a child version of Sasuke stumbled through the streets, leaving a trail of tears as he sobbed silently, mouth agape in horror. He watched as the boy made his way slowly, torturously through the maze of death and loss until he had arrived at his home to see the inert, lifeless forms of his parents' corpses. He watched as he collapsed, crying and screaming and vomiting now, on the hardwood floor, his brother Itachi standing across the room like a shadowy specter of the Reaper itself.

It was exactly as Sasuke had remembered it, every minute detail painstakingly replicated just as they had been countless times within his dreams.

Mercifully, the macabre scene disappeared, leaving him once more hovering above an array of tree-sprouting planets.

Sasuke realized what it was that he wanted to do with their power.

Correction: _could_ do.

 _Needed_ to do.

And it was within his grasp.

A shudder of doubt washed over Sasuke. Was it right to even think that way?

Another voice spoke within him, and he recognized it as his own.

 _Right? Wrong? Such concepts are an illusion. There are two things in this universe: pain, and the power to avoid it._

The power of the chakra trees was his _right_! Why shouldn't he seize it, and prevent any child from ever having to endure the misery that he had? With their chakra fruits, Sasuke knew he could ensure this glorious future. Had he not earned the _right_ by suffering through that imaginable hell and the despicable, torturous existence that his brother had predicted?

This line of reasoning nearly consumed Sasuke, but he was able to fight it back with an extreme effort of will. Other memories leaped to the front of his consciousness: the many sins that he had committed over his life, from the most insignificant to the most heinous. He saw himself angrily slapping a tray of apples out of Sakura's hand as he lied on hospital bed. Then he saw himself attacking Naruto, each and every time with chidori-infused intent to kill and an ugly grimace of anger.

The Uchiha did not just welcome these memories; he let them sear him like hot coals. Desperately, he wished that they had amounted to _something..._ some reason why all the evil he had inflicted upon himself and others had been worth it.

The offer of the trees seemed as reasonable a justification as any.

Another voice spoke.

 _I don't deserve this power,_ it rebuffed. Greedily taking it so that he would never again need to worry about protecting those he loved would be easy...too easy. Rejecting it, embracing the risk and danger that was endemic to life would be hard. If there was one thing Sasuke had learned from his mistakes, though, it was that hard decisions were the ones worth making. Vengeance, hate: they were nothing but false balms for the aches of one's soul. They promised deliverance, yet only provided corruption.

Sasuke took a deep breath. He felt his deep-seated craving for the trees' chakra slowly melt away, leaving a painful hollowness in his chest, as if he had released a part of his very identity. Yet he finally felt clear-headed and began to notice time passing normally. The Uchiha stood up straight, looked around, and held up a hand to protect his eyes from the blinding light of the stars all around him.

 _Magnificent,_ he thought. _Is this what the universe looks like from the eyes of an Otsutsuki?_

The thought was terrifying enough to make even Sasuke shiver.

Before he could move to release himself from the genjutsu, something changed. Sasuke was pulled backwards again, his cross-section of the galaxy minimizing. At the same moment, a pair of white-robed men came into view. They were flying through the black void, and _fast._ Their faces wore masks of perverse glee, and the Uchiha could tell that they were of the same lineage as Kaguya. Horns adorned their head, their hair was long and bone-white, skin of ivory, and eyes shaded deep purple with layered lines.

They were heading for the trees, hands extended.

"No," Sasuke shouted, or tried to. His voice caught within his throat and no sound emerged. He drew his katana and tried to charge after the men, but his feet could only carry him so far, and the universe was a large place.

As he watched, the Otsutsuki pair entered the galaxy he had viewed previously and opened their palms, revealing an extra rinnegan embedded in their skin. The third eyes began to suck with a blueish corona of energy not at all dissimilar to Sasuke's own Preta path.

Lines of force spread out from each and every one of the trees, feeding into the men's hands as they feasted upon the life essence of thousands upon thousands of planets. Rapidly swelling to size of gods, they soon blotted out everything else in Sasuke's field of vision.

He snarled and tried to attack, but it was futile. One of the men turned, smirked, and held up a hand. Sasuke was instantly gripped by an unstoppable field of force that prevented him moving a single muscle.

"You can go to hell," he spat at the man.

The Otsutsuki's response was, evidently, another barrage of mental images. They swarmed Sasuke, drowning him with their intensity until he had all but completely forgotten his natural senses.

The smells hit him first. Rot. Decay. Blood. Urine, sweat, and vomit.

Then came the sounds: blood-curdling screams, the crackling of an inferno, the wet sloshing of blades through flesh, and countless other madness-inducing tones.

Lastly: the sights. How Sasuke wished he could block them out, for they were the worst of it. It took only a second from him to realize that they would stay with him forever, occupying a dark corner of his soul right next to the loss of his innocence.

He saw death, torture, and rape of every description and kind and context imaginable. Bodies burned before him, still-living beings were slowly devoured by otherworldly monsters, flesh was peeled from bones with the flick of wrist like potato skins, and innocent people were impaled by chakra spikes. Armies of white zetsu stormed across not just the galaxy, but _all_ dimensions, trillions-strong, brutally slaughtering all those who opposed them. The 'lucky' few who did not resist, who did not fight back, they were wrapped within Infinite Tsukuyomi cocoons, where they were kept in a prison of unfathomable nightmares while their souls were slowly ripped to shreds so that their chakra might fuel even greater conquest still.

And through it all, Sasuke saw the burning stare of two sets of Rinnegan boring into his soul.

 _NO!_ he screamed within his mind over and over again. The word grew in a deafening crescendo, drowning out even the sickening cacophony of evil. Sasuke gathered his will, every inch of his chakra and might, and began to beat back the force that bound him.

His muscles burned, his chakra network felt as if it were on fire, and his eyes bulged. Progress was slow and laborious, and through it all, he could not stop the visions. Yet he persevered.

"If you think this will impress me," he muttered breathlessly through clenched teeth, his hand slowly raising in a ninja sign.

"Then you are wrong. _Dead_ wrong, you Otsutsuki bastards!"

The Rinnegan flashed again.

But it was too late.

Sasuke completed the seal.

...

"KAI!"

* * *

Reality returned, and Sasuke felt himself panting heavily. Breaking the powerful genjutsu had cost a massive amount of chakra, in addition to the psychic damage he had suffered from the traumatic experience itself. The Uchiha felt a migraine creeping into his skull, and exhaustion sapped his energy.

These things were least of his problems.

Sasuke blinked.

Emerging from every crack on the walls, floor, and ceilings were white zetsu... _hundreds_ of them. They climbed, crawled, clawed, and even grew themselves from spores in a shambling mound of twisted glee. Their progress was slow, but their numbers were climbing rapidly. Within seconds, Sasuke knew he would be swarmed and die.

His mind kicked into overdrive, and, with practiced precision, the six paths shinobi shoved aside his emotions and denied his tiredness. Pain was a state of mind. Sasuke had not given his body permission to ache with weakness, so he snatched the privilege away.

Moments before the circular throng of Zetsu had managed to close on him, Sasuke shoved out his hand and made a seal. The air hissed, and suddenly the approaching zetsu were violently repelled from him as he channeled his Deva path.

Dozens of zetsu who were closer to the walls were liquified by the force of the impact. The rest, however, were cushioned by the demise of their brethren and survived the assault. However, even those that did were momentarily stunned, stumbling around aimlessly, knocked to floor, pinned to the edges of the cavern, or wedged inside the tight cracks from which they had come.

Sasuke knew he'd bought himself some time. Briefly, one of his eyes met the statue's, and he saw that it had deactivated, purple flesh having faded into brown stone as if it had never existed.

Good. One less problem to deal with.

There were any number of things that Sasuke could have done next, and the Uchiha's tactical mind considered all of them within the span of a second.

Susanoo' would be undoubtedly effective, as always, but given the high chakra cost and his limited doujutsu usage, Sasuke decided the spiritual guardian was not necessarily the best choice for battles of attrition.

The Animal path might work, but the room was small, smaller still with kami-knew-how-many angry white zombies filling it. Sasuke relished the idea of having an extra set of eyes to monitor the attacks of his enemies, but the large rinnegan animals would clog his mobility.

Asura had merits to it as well, but strength wasn't what was going to win this battle. And even with several extra limbs, Sasuke still wouldn't be able to outfight that many enemies at once in close quarters.

Mass-amaterasu seemed like the best idea, but the black flames were dangerous. Zetsu didn't feel pain and had no qualms about employing suicidal tactics, so unless they died quickly, the creatures might just rush him and attempt to hurt him with his own fires. Plus, there was the issue of chakra cost again.

Sasuke smirked. He knew exactly what to do.

One hand flashed through a rapid series of seals, then set itself in a 'ok' sign. Sasuke held it to his mouth and ignored the stabs of his sore lungs as he sucked in a massive amount of air.

 _Wind Style: Pressure Bombs,_ Sasuke mentally reminded himself.

Then, he simply blew through the hole formed by his index finger and his thumb. As he did so, invisible balls of rapidly expanding, contracting, and re-shaping air soared outward on a collision course with a nearby group of white zetsu.

Before the ninjutsu could hit, the Uchiha's mangekyo sharingan flashed. _Amaterasu._

The already-deadly pressure bombs were instantly infused with tiny sparkles of black flame. The fires rapidly expanded, engorged by the complementary energy of the air style. When the orbs hit, the amaterasu exploded outward, propelled and efficiently dispersed by the mini-hurricanes of expanding force. Still recovering from the Shinra Tensei, the cluster of zetsu were caught completely unaware.

They scattered in multiple directions at once, bodies ragdolling as the black flames rapidly spread and devoured them. By the time they had collided with stone or other zetsu (thereby spreading the devastating effect even further), most had simply disintegrated. The few that remained and had somehow avoided the unquenchable fire were far too badly mangled by the wind attack to be of much threat. Arms dangled uselessly from tosos by strips of white material, legs crumpled into heaps, and vast swaths of flesh had been carved away.

Sasuke smirked in satisfaction at his handiwork, but he did not stop. As soon as he had decimated the first group, he spun and unleashed fiery, black wind projectiles at another. It, too, was utterly destroyed by the clever combination of attacks, thereby clearing a second small safe space in the cavern.

Seizing the opportunity, Sasuke spun through the air, unleashed more pressure bombs as he landed, and swiveled to face his attackers once more. The Zetsu were disorganized and rapidly falling to his strategy. Clusters came at him in a series of chaotic lunges, giving the man enough time to pivot, reposition, assess the nearest group, and take them out with lethal force.

The pitched fever of combat continued in this fashion for a dozen more heartbeats, Sasuke repeating the effective tactic over and over again. By the end of this span, he had annihilated nearly half of the zetsu horde. The downside, however, was that those who remained had adapted to Sasuke's strategy. Now they were spread out in loose formations, dodging and attacking in erratic shapes and patterns so as to confuse the Uchiha and prevent him from easily re-positioning after his one-directional attacks.

Sasuke recognized the danger he would be in if he continued, so he dropped the jutsu sign. It wouldn't do to have three of them blown away, only for six more to grab him from the other directions. Besides, even with Sasuke's more effective method of dispersing amaterasu, the man sensed he had still used up most of his remaining chakra and doujutsu power.

Zetsu rushed at shinobi when he did so, their overwhelming numbers quite intimidating still.

Sasuke was unfazed, however.

The cold smirk on his face deepened.

 _Exactly what I wanted._

The cry of one million birds filled the air as Sasuke held up his lightning-tinged hand. Oh, it would feel _good_ to tear something apart with his own limbs after what he had forced himself through when leaving Sakura.

The Uchiha blurred into the fray, his karate-chops flashing as he met the zetsu head-on.


	10. Chapter 10

Sasuke's chest heaved. Hot puffs of air escaped his mouth as he panted heavily, exhaustion stabbing his chest with insistent need.

The obstinate Uchiha shoulder checked the pain. What right did he have to complain about it, when Sakura was undoubtedly suffering a far worse sensation in her chest than _physical_ hurt?

The thought of his precious cherry blossom alone and abandoned by him was a deeply troubling one for Sasuke, so he pushed that feeling aside, too. It was a skill he had been honing rather often lately, having spent more time around _her_ than he would have preferred. Which was to say nothing of the fact that he had mentally referred to Sakura in such affectionate terms to begin with, which both irritated and perplexed him.

 _What gives you the right to call her that?_ Sasuke told himself with a snarl as he leaped forward, ducked under the swinging arm of a white Zetsu, and bisected the creature with a swift stroke of his chidori palm. He pretended that it was his doppelgänger as he did so. _All you do is abandon and hurt her. She isn't_ yours.

The fact that Sasuke saw his treatment of Sakura—aloof, cold, feigned indifference—as necessary did little to quell his regret and self-hatred over it. After all, it was because of _him_ and _his_ mistakes that it was necessary in the first place, wasn't it? Sasuke was an ex-criminal. He was a selfish and complicated and incredibly flawed jerk, not _her._

The shinobi pivoted, purple and red eyes rapidly scanning the movements of other Zetsu around him. They were clumsy in his vision: slow, vulnerable, and predictable. Every facet of their attacks, from the tiniest giveaway to the most obvious feint, stood out in stark clarity. Sasuke was easily able to calculate the trajectories of their movements and plan accordingly. It was such a simple and routine thing for the man to do that he found himself acting without realizing it. Sasuke lost himself in a subconscious battle frenzy, his conscious brain free to wander his inner realm of conflicting emotions.

Another Otsutsuki experiment charged in, spun, and lashed a kick in his direction. Sasuke felt his body lean back, fly past the construct's reach, and bifurcate the entire leg as he swept his hand towards the monster's torso. It died instantly, melting into a viscous puddle of white matter.

 _That should be you._

Sasuke swerved through a pair of Zetsu faster than either could react, chopping one of them to pieces as he kicked the other into a third opponent. Both of them went down in a tangle of flailing limbs.

He let out a low, animalistic growl: the closest thing to a battle cry he could characteristically manage.

 _Everything comes back to you,_ the Uchiha thought.

If Sakura were to travel with him, she'd be doomed to a life of danger and emotional vampirism. Sasuke was self-aware enough to realize that if he were to accept her feelings, any relationship he might be able to tolerate would be defined by his neediness. It would be fundamentally unequal. Sakura would have to give far more love—love that Sasuke knew he desperately craved just as much as it frightened him—than he would ever be able to reciprocate.

Sasuke erratically reversed direction and took a zetsu by surprise, spinning around its feeble attempt to strike him. He dispatched it with another clean stroke.

True, there was some part of him that wondered what things might be like if he finally decided to embrace Sakura's love. Those thoughts had been frequent during his previous travels, though not nearly as frequent as they had been ever since she had found him in the forest. Sasuke's resistance was wearing thin, thinner than it had ever been, which was one of the main reasons he had decided to leave. It was his defensive mechanism, one that had both saved and condemned him throughout the wayward shinobi's life.

When he didn't know what to do about someone, he pushed them away.

Alone was safe. Alone meant that he wouldn't have to lose anyone or worry about their judgment. That was the lesson fate had taught him, had engraved on his soul time and time again.

Normally, it was fear, rage, and disgust that Sasuke was concerned about. Sakura, though, showed him something far worse.

Pity.

Sasuke ducked, took the legs out from under one attacker with a well-placed kick, amputated the arms of another, and locked a third in a world of genjutsu with a simple glance. The white zombies did not react, and simply struggled to keep coming after him in whatever manner their ruined bodies could support.

A feeling of nausea rose in Sasuke's stomach, just as it always did whenever he was confused.

Pity. The one thing he'd never received from anyone other than her. Or at least, not in a genuine way. Where the world saw a crazed psychopath, where Naruto saw his redeemable friend, Sakura saw a man worth giving her heart to despite the inevitability of having it torn to pieces. The kunoichi saw things in him that Sasuke believed had died a long time ago...or perhaps ones that he simply wished to believe had died. It was easier to hate himself, to think that he was intrinsically flawed and cursed. It was easier to push people away, even though, deep down, Sasuke despised his state just as much as he despised himself.

To break the pattern of his life, though, would be far worse. It would be tantamount to admitting his guilt and foolishness, admitting that he should have done things differently.

The Uchiha was a black-blue blur as he sprinted, contorted, and carved his way through a pack of zetsu with electric grace. Dozens of bodies were left in his wake.

 _Killing. That's all you're capable of, whether they're an amazing, beautiful woman's dreams or the servants of a dead god._

As Sasuke fought, he imagined what life must have been like for Sakura in the Leaf village. She was a highly skilled kunoichi, a war hero, a world-renowned healer, and a beautiful woman both inside and out. She had responsibilities, goals, prospects, a career, plenty of friends, and everything else one needed to be happy.

Selfish...that's what it would be or deny her a future in that life.

Yet, wasn't it also selfish to deny Sakura's reciprocal desire to be with him, simply because he was too emotionally stunted and vulnerable to deal with risk?

Sasuke backflipped over one of the few zetsu that still stood and slammed it with a solid punch that hallowed its chest. The humanoid flew forward at incredible speed under the force of his blow, then exploded into shards of chalky flesh.

Sasuke let out an inward, psychic scream. _This is just too damn complicated!_

Never before had his identity felt so in flux, so undermined and strengthened at the same time. Sasuke felt like a living paradox, a joke of a person perpetuated by a cruel universe. It was a feeling only rivaled in intensity by the night of the massacre itself.

Sasuke snarled again and tightened his fist in defiance. He might have had doubts about his actions, he might have have felt sick from the sheer weight of his contradictions, but there was one thought that stood out clearly in his mind.

It was a memory of his council with the reanimated kage during the war.

Sasuke recalled the First's words in particular.

The Uchiha were a clan of both extreme love and extreme hate.

The description certainly seemed fitting to Sasuke in that moment. If he couldn't understand himself, if he could not reconcile love, then he could at least immerse himself in hate for a worthy target.

At that moment, the zetsu attacking him seemed as worthy a target for aggression as any.

Sasuke exploded into motion, no longer bothering to utilize the methodical style he was known for. He attacked recklessly, pounding the zetsu to dusty liquid with savage blows while he imagined each of them was something he hated.

The world, for making him such a steaming mess. Himself, for all the times he had missed his chance at happiness. Himself again, for succumbing to rage, for hurting Sakura…

Sakura.

Sasuke snarled incoherently. He struck chaotically, taking easily avoidable hits as he decimated his enemies with berserk anger. Soon, all the zetsu were dead, and the Uchiha was covered in cuts, blood, and bruises.

He fell to his knees amid the rocky battlefield of what passed for zetsu corpses. Their numbers were so great that the detritus completely covered the floor and much of the walls as well. Sasuke choked on lungfuls of air as he slowly surveyed the evidence of his destruction.

His thoughts still lingered, but they were muted, distant. The visceral challenge of injuring and being injured, the pain and victorious pride and adrenaline surge, they all washed over the Uchiha in one sublime moment. He took several minutes to relish the freeing beauty of it as his mind went blank with satisfaction.

Combat, like loneliness, was a magical thing. When he fought, and for a short time after, it was as if all of Sasuke's troubles melted away and he finally achieved the serenity that he required to fend off the omnipresent shadow of his past.

 _It would have been nice,_ Sasuke thought in a moment of lucidity, _to be with her._

Hearing Sakura's passionate (yet misguided, he told himself) defense of his character that night in the backyard of their hotel room had awakened something within the Uchiha. Even now, Sasuke could barely understand, let alone come to terms with it.

Thinking of how close he had been to receiving Sakura's ultimate confession, to hearing those three little words that he had barely realized he'd needed to hear more than anything else in the world until she had shown him...was uncomfortable, to say the least. In spite of this, Sasuke found his brain drifting back to what he was beginning to understand had been a fateful night, just as it had many times since.

They hadn't revisited the topic over during the interim in which he had been helping Sakura recover from her injuries: he, out of embarrassment, and she, he guessed, out of respect for his personal space. The ultimate irony was that Sakura's sensitivity to his complex needs only endeared her to him that much more.

 _And now...you'll never get a chance to hear those words from her ever again._

An intense feeling of burning regret stabbed at his heart, but Sasuke accepted it as his cross to bear.

At length, the tired shinobi remembered where he was and what he was supposed to be doing. Gathering his energy and resolve, Sasuke stood on quivering legs and turned to face the statue once more.

"Any other tricks for me?" the Uchiha taunted.

Predictably, there was no reply.

Sasuke smirked. "Good," he said, limping over to the altar and the scroll that waited for him there.

It was long and thick: probably four feet in length and half as many in diameter. The paper was contained in a glass tube sealed with cloth, wax, and other substances to ensure its preservation. Sasuke let his eyes drain a little more chakra from his body as he inspected the item for traps or other signs of deception.

Finding none, the Uchiha reached for the scroll tube.

The moment his fingers brushed the glass walls of the cylinder, the groan of stone grinding against stone assaulted Sasuke's ears. His ebony locks swished as he jerked his head upwards to face the direction of the sound.

A shifting mass of rock was erupting from the statue above him, whose rinnegan had resurfaced. The outlines of the modest Otsutsuki depiction were expanding...growing. Arms, legs, and torso bulged as chunks of earth were ripped from the ground by invisible force and rapidly attached to the statue like a sheath or layer of armor. Its 'body' melted into mud as these new components were added, allowing it to completely reshape its form.

By the time Sasuke's exhausted brain and had processed the bizarre sight, a ten-foot tall golem was stalking towards him, shoulders hunched in anger and disproportionately massive fists raised with pummeling intent. One of them crashed towards the Uchiha's body like a living boulder of destruction, and he was certain that the creature would kill him instantly if that strike connected.

After a brief, pulse-pounding moment of struggle, Sasuke was able to send an electrical signal to his arm and legs. The former firmly scooped up the scroll and braced it against his chest while the latter two kicked with all their might, sending the shinobi sailing backwards through the air.

Not one heartbeat later, an animate mountain of stone slammed the space where he had been standing. A shockwave reverberated through the whole cavern, nearly causing Sasuke to lose his balance as he landed. Cracks spiderwebbed outward in a spiralling pattern, and several hanging spikes of rock shattered from their perches.

 _What is that thing?!_ Sasuke pondered as he tried to catch his bearings. Some kind of automated construct, probably created by the deva path. That much was certain. What was less certain was how Kaguya had managed to create such a magnificent and deadly contraption on a delayed trigger. Even less certain were its weaknesses. Sasuke's physical energy was running on fumes, and his chakra wasn't far behind. He had enough to staunch the flow of blood from his careless wounds. Beyond that, all he'd be able to manage was a few minutes of high-level elemental ninjutsu, and even less than that of his doujutsu.

In short, the man needed to figure something out, and _fast._

Unfortunately, his opponent didn't seem all that inclined to give him time.

"Fire Style," Sasuke spoke, voice low and deadly. He grew a long, sinewy, mechanical Asura path arm from his stump shoulder as he did so. The limb clutched the scroll case, freeing up his natural hand. The Uchiha raised it to his lips in a 'shh' gesture and focused his chakra. "Fireball Jutsu."

A roaring ball of orange fire exploded from his mouth. Its sheer heat caused the air to depressurize and whip uncontrollably, battering both Sasuke and the earth construct with powerful gusts. The former's cloak and hair flapped wildly in response, while the latter simply barrelled through the ninjutsu attack with single-minded determination.

Steam suddenly rose from the space where the fireball should have impacted the golem's stony body. Sasuke squinted, peering past the grey clouds and orange flares of light in the room.

What he saw shocked him. Water was pouring from the monster's mouth in a jet, devouring the oncoming fireball before it even had a chance to singe a single pebble. Within moments, the entire fire attack had been countered by the spray of nearly-freezing water.

Sasuke gasped and managed to leap to the side as the golem kept on coming. Luckily, it had been slowed enough by the distraction he had created, giving him a few extra, precious seconds-which the Uchiha had sorely needed. His enemy came within reach as it crashed past him, winding up poised at the entrance of the cavern before swiveling to face him from several dozen feet away.

As much as Sasuke's pride hated the idea, the man knew he would have to retreat and fight another day. His eyes flicked to the only exit tunnel as he pondered the proper move to facilitate his escape.

Before he could decide, the golem was moving again. This time, instead of charging, the earthen beast leaned over and spun its head on its shoulders. A new face with slightly different features stared hatefully at Sasuke, swiftly replacing the old one.

It was at that moment that Sasuke noticed something he hadn't had time to before: the statue-turned-jutsu-wielding-rock-guardian had not one, not two, but _five_ faces, each protruding from the same head on different sides like a macabre parody of a multi-faceted gem.

 _One for each elemental style,_ the Uchiha thought. What else should he have expected, with rinnegan abilities in play?

Sasuke raised a hand to perform more ninjutsu, but his opponent beat him to it. Without even having to make a one-handed sign, the creature belched a gout of mud and silt from the set of lips that faced the tunnel entrance. The murky liquid pooled and swirled ominously on the ground before rapidly shaping itself into a wall-like formation. Then, the the golem slammed one of its hands down on the floor below, causing the brown mixture to instantly solidify and become solid rock.

Sasuke's eyes went wide. He panicked for split second, then changed tactics. Instead of weaving a sign, he flicked his fingers in a fan shape. Instantly, a barrage of senbon-like lightning darts issued forth and collided with the earth wall.

Or at least, they tried to. The rinnegan-construct's array of heads rapidly re-arranged themselves one more time. A third face that Sasuke hadn't seen yet faced the darts and blew forcefully. In response, a gust of powerful air crashed into the chidori technique, causing it to immediately dissipate as the vital energies sustaining it were countered by the opposing element's force.

Sasuke sighed. It seemed that no matter what he did, this thing was just going to keep countering his attacks faster than he could anticipate them. Without the need for hand signs, the only thing in his arsenal that stood a chance of bringing his enemy down was amaterasu or a half-susanoo' at the very least. Neither of which Sasuke felt he could sustain long enough to matter.

 _Think, idiot!_ The Uchiha scolded himself as he slowly backed away from the golem, which was re-orienting itself for another charge. _What would Oorochimaru say if he saw you like this?_ he berated, memories of long hours of ruthlessly brutal training popping into his mind. _He would have had you beaten for not having figured something like this out yet!_

In the time it took for Sasuke to complete his mental dialogue, thundering footsteps had already closed half the distance. In a desperate effort to buy himself more time, the Uchiha thrust out his palm and channeled a shinra tensei.

There was a surreal popping sound, and the golem wavered. It was immediately halted and began to struggle against Sasuke's technique, upper body leaned forward into the gravitational burst as its arms flexed themselves in a vertical push-up motion. The image would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire.

Within seconds, Sasuke's deva path was losing to the overwhelming physical strength of his opponent. The guardian began to inch forward second by second, feet digging massive ruts into the cavern floor. At full strength, Sasuke would have been able to easily topple the monster (or at the very least, stun it long enough to follow up with a second attack), but the man knew he was far from his peak efficiency. His chakra network protested as he felt the shinra tensei slowly dropping, and he was forced to end the attack prematurely. A contest of raw power wasn't something he could challenge the golem with and hope to emerge victorious.

 _What, then?_ Sasuke thought as he barely managed to blur past a third charge. _If not strength…_

An idea flashed into Sasuke's brain, and he sent a silent thanks to his old mentor for his cruel ways.

His free hand shot out and embedded a chidori-laced kunai about halfway up one of the side walls. A string of ninja wire trailed from it, and Sasuke used that to propel himself towards the weapon just quickly enough to dodge a savage punch.

The moment his feet connected with the wall, Sasuke forced the perfect amount of chakra into them, just as Sakura had taught him to do all those years ago. He smiled wanly as he recalled the memory: it was both sad and bitter with nostalgia.

The Uchiha swiveled to face his enemy, which was now slowly pacing across the width of the cavern as if looking for something. _A boulder to throw at me,_ Sasuke thought. _Too bad I won't be giving you enough time._

Sasuke made a quick sign, and there were two puffs of smoke on each side of him. Dividing his barely-existent chakra levels across four additional clones was difficult enough on its own, so he shuddered in pain and numb exhaustion.

The Uchiha felt his eyes sagging closed. The lids were so, _so,_ heavy, and all he wanted to do was rest.

As darkness creeped in on the corners of his vision, the shinobi wondered if death would really be so bad after all…

It would certainly seem to solve a lot of problems...both his, and the world's.

 _Well,_ he supposed, _the entire world...except Sakura._

 _She'd want me to live,_ Sasuke thought. _I owe her that much, at least._

The Uchiha forced his eyelids to raise, and the motion was harder than lifting a boulder one-handed. Still, he managed to jolt them hard enough to work…

...just in time to see a sharp, spear-like stalagmite coming right towards him.

Sasuke snarled an annoyed "tch" at himself and scattered in five directions. The four clones and their mechanical-armed original spread out in a radial fashion, surrounding the golem from all angles. The stone's impact caused a few of them to slip as their concentration and horribly low chakra levels nearly ended the wall-waking techniques, but all of them managed to recover before the rock guardian had broken off another stalagmite.

Two things happened at the exact same time.

Each Sasuke raised one hand in front of them and gathered what little chakra they possessed. The clones knew that they'd get one shot before dying from the effort alone. There was but one chance to make the plan work, and they were determined not to waste it. Elemental energy bubbled up before them: one Sasuke with lightning jutsu, another with earth, a third with water, and so on.

As he had expected, the golem responded in kind. Each face unhinged its jaws and began to conjure a ball of their own elemental energies; one for each type. At first, the creature held back the jutsus, ten eyes studiously scanning the arrangement of Sasuke's.

Sasuke didn't hold back his attacks, and couldn't have even if he wanted to. He let each clone display clearly what type of jutsu they were going to use: there was no point in trying to hide anything from the creature. Lightning crackled, earth rumbled, fire bellowed, winds howled, and water flowed.

The Uchiha could have sworn he saw a faint glimmer of a smirk on his opponent's faces as it anticipated the configuration of his attacks and shuffled. Within the blink of an eye, the guardian was now aiming elemental bombs of the perfect counters at Sasuke's own: water against his fire, lightning against his earth, fire against his wind, wind against his lightning, and earth against his water.

Then, without hesitation, the guardian unleashed hell.

The Sasukes could only watch as doom approached.

And watch they did.

Carefully peering at one another out of the corner of their eyes, five rinnegans focused on their counterparts. With a sudden flash, the positions of each Sasuke were reversed so that their prepared attacks were now readied for a different element than the golem had intended.

Sasuke's fire was now aimed against wind, his earth opposing water, his water opposing fire, his lightning meeting earth, and his wind barrelling into lightning.

The golem seemed to jerk in surprise, but it was too late. Sasuke's space-time transportation was instantaneous, and the beast had barely realized what was happening by the time Sasuke's jutsus had obliterated its own. It tried to rearrange its faces once again, but was too slow.

What happened next was pure carnage.

Sasuke's water missile cascaded into the guardian's side, causing chunks of rock to disintegrate from the force as it stumbled and leaned directly into a fireball. Steam rose around it as the flames melted a fifth of its body down to mud. Then, a heartbeat later, lightning infused the steam cloud, surrounding the monster in a halo of searing energy. Blackened, it began to collapse, but the steam was suddenly replaced by a powerful slash of air that eviscerated its midsection and removed half an arm. Lastly, there was an earth spear...which settled directly into the crack left by the wind slice and ripped open massive swaths of stone. The guardian wavered, then collapsed in a heap, more than sixty-percent of its body totally missing.

Sasuke smirked, but his victory was short lived. As he had expected, the clones puffed out of existence. At the same time, the original plummeted downward, losing its balance as a wave of nausea and agony threatened to overwhelm it.

The Uchiha managed to release another kunai-with-wire, but the maneuver was ungraceful. He clattered painfully to the rocky floor, only half absorbing the impact as he rolled to a stop. His bones protested, hundreds of tiny daggers stabbing him from the inside, but the pain simply meant Sasuke was alive. The scroll case cracked and bounced several times before coming to a halt, the arm that had been wrapped around it fading into non-existence.

 _Take that, you bastard,_ the Uchiha thought with a grimace as he began to lose the battle against unconsciousness. This time, he would welcome the embrace of sleep, knowing he had defeated the Temple's devious traps.

Something moved in Sasuke's field of vision, and the shinobi pried his eyes open as he slumped backwards into a sitting position.

It was the guardian, rising on shaky, battered legs. Its arms and torso were skinny and disproportionate in many areas, causing the creature to stumble. It fell several times, then finally managed to stand. Pieces of its body slowly floated back together and afixed themselves in their old positions, as if the monster was using the deva path in a mockery of regeneration.

After several seconds, the still-disfigured entity managed to start shuffling towards Sasuke.

The shinobi groaned, his muscles protesting as he sluggishly tried to crawl backwards.

It was no use. Hot flashes of agony buried his mental commands, paralyzing him. Sasuke tried harder to move, to fight, to do _anything,_ but his body simply wouldn't listen. It had finally suffered enough abuse and was putting its metaphorical foot down. The Uchiha was too tired, too damaged and weakened from blood loss and chakra depletion. Sasuke seriously doubted he would have been able to throw a shuriken at that moment.

Simply put, he was done.

Sasuke did something he never would have expected in this situation. He had stared death in the face many times before, but never had he reacted like this.

Not with a laugh.

It was delightfully ironic, the shinobi decided, that he would be killed in this fashion. After all his years of wreaking havoc on the world, helping to start a war that had culminated with a goddess, rampaging against the kage, and much, much more, lady luck would come to claim him during his attempt to atone.

 _The universe must truly hate me,_ Sasuke thought as the earthen guardian loomed over him.

Vaguely, the idea of using izanagi entered the Uchiha's head. He dismissed it, though. There was no good reason for a worthless person like himself to go on living. What did he have to live for, anyway? An empty life devoid of companionship? It wasn't as if Sasuke was destined to raise a family. In fact, the sheer impossibility of it only made the man chuckle harder.

"Go ahead and do it," the Uchiha told the earth monster with a glare. "End me."

If the creature possessed enough intelligence to understand him, it didn't show it. It simply raised one-still repairing hand in a slamming motion.

 _I'm sorry, Sakura,_ Sasuke thought. And he meant it, too. Even though the woman would never know of his demise and would never discover his body, even though he would die alone and unnoticed and uncared for by the world, he still regretted the fact that he couldn't go on living like she would have wanted him to.

As he fixed the golem with a steely glare, unflinching even though he was moments away from death, Sasuke yearned. He wished with all his heart and soul, genuinely, for the first time, that he had not abandoned the village to join Oorochimaru as a genin.

That singular event, in retrospect, had led to his downfall. It was the first decision in a series of selfish acts that had ruined any chance at happiness Sasuke might have had. It was the first action in a pattern of emotional abuse against the one person who had eternally sympathized with his plight and wanted to help him. The sheer stupidity of the Uchiha's younger self astounded and disgusted him.

 _A life, wasted,_ Sasuke thought as tears slid down his cheeks. Fingernails dug into his palms with such intensity that they drew rivulets of blood, soaking his forearm, but the Uchiha was heedless.

Some say that a person's life flashes before their eyes in the moments before their death. For Sasuke Uchiha, this was certainly the case.

However, the shinobi's visions were dominated not by memories of cold, hard, reality, but warm fantasies of what could have been.

Sasuke saw images of himself sprawled in bed with Sakura on lazy afternoons as he laved kisses upon kisses across her body. He saw the couple making sweet, tender, passionate love...as well as sex of a much more carnal nature. He saw a slideshow of Sakura getting pregnant, happily bearing him a child, and helping him raise it to continue the Uchiha lineage. Sasuke saw he and Sakura holding hands as they grew old together, surrounded by their loving friends in an alternate version of konoha that he had not betrayed.

He wasn't supposed to have died this way, being crushed to death by an angry guardian for an alien goddess. Sasuke knew with certainty that he was supposed to have let go of his hatred at a much younger age. He was supposed to have let Sakura help him endure his pain, he was supposed to have undertaken all the adventures he had seen in his mind's eye with her at his side.

Yes...it would have been far better, that way. The fantasy was cloyingly sweet in its beauty and just as bitter in its unfortunate impossibility.

 _Still,_ Sasuke mused, _there are worse ways to die than dreaming of what could have been._

The Uchiha closed his eyes, then took a deep breath that he knew would be his last.

And so Sasuke waited; silent, still, and calm. He accepted his death with open arms and had made his peace...of sorts. It was time for the misery to end.

…

…

Only, the end did not come.

Sasuke peeled back one of his lids and saw that the temple guardian was turning away from him as if distracted by something. It took a tentative step towards the rock wall it had erected, ignoring the defenseless Uchiha entirely.

There was a loud crunch that shook the foundations of the wall. Cracks began to spread along the edges, emanating from a crater in the center. Within seconds, the entire object had crumbled to dust from what had evidently been a heavy blow.

Sasuke blinked the blood from his eyes and struggled to see who, or what, stood in the threshold of the cavern. He didn't see how it could have been a human being, much less a shinobi or someone that he knew. The Uchiha hadn't told anyone where he was going. In fact, it was likely that he was the only person in the world who knew of this remote and ancient location.

He knew better than to call out to the fellow intruder, lest they have hostile intent towards him as well. Better to wait and see how the newcomer would behave towards Sasuke's enemy first before making a move.

Luckily, he did not have to wait long.

"Sasuke?" a familiar voice called to him, immediately removing all doubts concerning the entity's intent.

A bolt relief washed through Sasuke, but he frowned all the same. It wasn't that the man had necessarily _wanted_ to die. In fact, he would have preferred life if only for the simple reason that it gave him more time to futilely attempt atonement.

Rather, his disappointment was due to the fact that his rescuer was the last person he wanted to see at that moment.

"Sakura," Sasuke weakly responded. The blurriness hadn't faded from his eyes, and although his sharingan had already disappeared, he was finally able to make out the woman's image. "Leave. It's too strong."

He saw the pinkette scoff and put her dainty, yet powerful hands on those lovely hips. "And leave you to die here?" she taunted. "I don't think so."

"Sakura," Sasuke barked. He was in no mood to argue the point, and his heart was pounding. He couldn't think straight with Sakura standing in the same room as foe he himself had been unable to defeat. Accepting his demise had been one thing, but now that it involved her, he was beyond panic.

Fortunately for the kunoichi, the Uchiha was interrupted by a bout of blood-filled coughing. The woman's pretty face twisted in a frown. "It's ok. I'll get you out of here."

"You don't understand," Sasuke managed to choke between asphyxiating coughs. "It's…too strong."

The warning came too late, and the construct was already rushing at the Haruno. She raised her fists in a boxing stance and met it halfway, boulder-like fist colliding with the many times smaller flesh and blood one.

There was a sickening crack of what Sasuke feared was bone as force rippled through the cavern and then went silent. A long moment passed, both opponents facing off in the exact center of the room. Neither shifted their weight, as if waiting to see whose strength caved first.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled, then squinted closer.

The kunoichi was smiling.

That's when he saw it: thousands of tiny ruptures along the stony skin of the earthen creature. Its arm sagged, bent, and its entire body began to slide backwards. Rock creaked with rage as the thing redoubled its effort to overpower the small woman with monstrous strength.

It was futile. Sakura calmly opened her hand (her one hand) and gripped the edge of the defender's rocky fist in claw-like fingers. Instantly, the seams in the beast's arms doubled in size as the structural damage began to multiply. Sasuke felt the telltale tingle of chakra in the air as it did so, Sakura no doubt pouring everything she had into that one fist.

"What's the matter?" she taunted at the disfigured faces. "Not strong enough for a girl?"

The thing twitched angrily as if it understood her and used her iron-clad grip to stabilize itself as it pivoted, aiming a kick at her head.

Sakura simply smashed her free hand against the ruined arm, fracturing it entirely. The limb clattered to the ground in a million pieces as she used her own momentum to spin towards her opponent. While speed wasn't necessarily the kunoichi's forte, it was clear that she was a lot faster than a hulking mound of rock, especially when said mound was off-balance and half-destroyed to begin with. As such, Sakura easily darted inside the reach of its leg and was able to attack the back of its knee with a crescent kick.

Chakra thrummed in the air as the blow connected. That limb, too, near-instantly shattered in a spray of stone chips and dirt, causing the guardian to flail wildly as it hopped backward on its one remaining foot.

Sakura didn't plan on letting it get away, however. The kunoichi brought her left elbow perpendicular to her enemy's chest as she did so and jabbed outward with a roar of "Shannaro!"

Just that little tap sent the monster flying across the cavern, where it collapsed in a heap of lifeless boulders amid the ruins of the altar. Even so, components quickly began to lift in the air and reposition themselves.

Sakura cocked her head. "Regeneration?"

A moment letter, several kunai appeared in her hands with explosive tags attached. "Here, let's put a stop to that," she said, unleashing the weapons with a casual toss. They struck home, the paper instantly igniting. Within seconds, a loud boom had enveloped the pile of dying temple guardian, flames and force finally rendering it an inert slurry of earth.

When it became clear that the creature wasn't going to keep on regenerating, Sakura smirked in satisfaction. The expression was quickly replaced by one of worry, though, as the medic-nin came running over to Sasuke.

"You're hurt," she stated somberly, but with a hint of chastisement.

Sasuke shrugged, the motion sending spikes of pain along his spine and into his head. "Tch."

Sakura gently helped to prop him against an outcropping. "Sorry," she apologized with a wince as Sasuke groaned in pain. "You'll feel better soon."

Sasuke noted that her words were clipped, tone dry; absent of her usual warmth and empathy. She had put on what he assumed was her professional 'nurse demeanor', a fact which galled him. The Uchiha had never heard such a thing before, it was only in the absence of Sakura's ordinary persona that he realized how much he had taken it for granted. He hated seeing her this way, seeing her treat him like anyone else.

Like someone who wasn't special to her.

"Sakura…" he moaned dizzily.

"Don't talk," she barked back at him. "Save your energy. I need to focus."

Sasuke scowled, and his attendant shot him a glare of warning as he did so. He bit back the urge to protest her treatment of him and simply let the woman work, though. His eyes met hers for a brief instant, and the Uchiha perceived that her orbs were misty with the beginnings of tears.

Seeing that, he almost wanted to cry himself, and looked quickly away.

Sasuke pretended to study a barren patch of wall as Sakura worked, her hands aglow with green chakra. A sensation that was somehow itchy, icy, and hot at the same time prickled his tissue wherever her hands passed over him. Lines of pain curled inside him over and over again as tendons, ligaments, and muscle fibers re-knit themselves. It seemed that wounds hurt as much to heal as they did to receive them…but this was a lesson Sasuke had learned under the much rougher care of Kabuto.

It was only when he had met Karin and Sakura that he had realized medic-nin could somewhat numb the pain of those they healed. Now, though, Sakura was doing him no such courtesy.

Not that he blamed her.

It took several minutes for the Uchiha to be restored to a stable, walking condition. Sakura leaned back on her haunches and eyed him. "How's it feel?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to respond, still terrified of looking his companion in the eyes. "Why did you follow me?" he asked emotionlessly, shoulders slumped and defeated.

The Uchiha saw the kunoichi's chest heave in a heavy sigh. He couldn't tell if she heard the subtext of his question or not.

 _Why bother for someone like me?_

 _Why risk your life, when all I do is hurt you?_

If she did, Sakura didn't show it.

Sasuke risked a quick glance at her face.

"Because I…" Sakura started, hesitating, weighing the merit of what she was about to say. She bit her lip in that cute way he so admired. "Because I care about you, Sasuke," she finally finished. "I'll always be there for you when you need me."

The words stung the Uchiha more surely than the lingering ache of his scars ever could have.

Sakura wasn't proud of her words: they sounded forced and solemn, as if she had been making a painful observation about the nature of reality. Sasuke could have easily imagined her shrugging and saying 'people die' or 'wars happen' in the same tone of voice.

It was a simple fact, the shinobi realized, that Sakura would never give up on him, no matter what. She would always run to him, no matter how much he hurt her, no matter how little he deserved it, and certainly no matter how much she resented herself for it.

If guilt were a physical object, a mountain as wide as the sky would have crashed down upon him. It was all Sasuke could do to prevent himself from crying at the horror and injustice of it all right then and there.

"Come on," Sakura said with a depressingly sad smile. "Let's get you out of here."

Sasuke nodded his consent and allowed himself to suffer to embarrassment of being helped up by her.

As Sakura braced Sasuke's limping body with one arm wrapped around his tender midsection, she flicked her chin at the scroll case. "What's that?"

"I don't know," Sasuke answered honestly, his voice low and hoarse. "But it's what I came here for. Something about the Otsutsuki, hopefully."

Sakura nodded her agreement and clasped her hands together in front of Sasuke. An identical copy of the kunoichi appeared and instantly walked over to scroll, carrying it in her arms as the original continued to help her patient limp out of the room.

Being this close to his greatest source of joy and his greatest source of pain was beginning to drive Sasuke mad, so he decided to distract himself by engaging in what little conversation she could tolerate.

"How did you find me?"

At first, the woman didn't reply. Then, "It's a cutting-edge medical ninjutsu I developed."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"It functions by altering the chemical composition of someone I touch in very slight ways," the kunoichi explained. This time she wore a genuine smile. "Not enough for anyone to notice, but enough to change their pheromones. I infuse some of my own chakra into it and inject a corresponding chemical in my own body. It effectively creates a link that manifests as the ability to track the target by smell alone."

Sasuke nodded, impressed. He wasn't quite sure that he understood the mechanics of the technique Sakura was describing, though. He might have been a genius when it came to ninjutsu, but his method of accessing power was instinctual. Innate. Focal knowledge of the scientific laws that governed chakra were far too esoteric for him to grasp, given his perspective. Not only were they antithetical to his entire experience as a shinobi, but knowing them might actually harm his fighting style.

The Uchiha admired his companion's obvious skill, however. Even with his absurd variety of abilities, he knew he would never be able to apply chakra in such a sophisticated manner. Still, Sasuke decided that he'd like to at least attempt reading one of Sakura's books on chakra dynamics and medical ninjutsu one day.

"A tracking ninjutsu," he blurted to fill the silence.

"Yeah, I suppose," Sakura said, patiently waiting for him to make progress up the steep tunnel. "Although it bears more resemblance to genjutsu in terms of energy patterns and perceptual manifestation. Last I heard, they were still trying to classify it."

Sasuke felt his interest in the kunoichi growing. He had always been at least mildly interested in Sakura, of course. It just seemed that lately he was peeling back more and more layers to the woman than he had imagined there even were.

Now it was her turn to question him, so the kunoichi asked about the battle that had taken place. Sasuke obliged, and quickly rattled off a terse description of what had transpired before she'd arrived. Sakura listened politely, and interjected a few comments.

"It seems she was more powerful, and more prominent in the past, than we had imagined," Sakura said. "I'm glad that you're exploring these ruins, but you must be more careful, Sasuke."

The Uchiha didn't respond. He knew that trying to explain his recklessness to her and the reasons she shouldn't worry about him was utterly pointless.

"I'm starting to think that investigating the Kaguya's past should be my top priority," he decided to say instead.

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "Even more important than making sure Shin is dead?"

Sasuke nodded. "I want to tie that loose end more than you can imagine, Sakura," he explained. "That man is a psychopath who clearly has no qualms about exploiting civilians. However, he must know that he can't take me in a fair fight. If I stay away from settlements, then everything should be fine."

Sakura scrunched her nose. "How do you know he won't simply start hurting people until you show yourself?"

"It's a possibility," Sasuke admitted. "But not a very likely one. Shin wasn't an idiot, but he's far too crazed for such a meticulous plan. What he did back at the resort required patience. It was the perfect battlefield with which to fight us."

"So, you think there's someone even higher than him pulling the strings?"

"It's obvious. Those four shinobi we fought were probably working under the same person," Sasuke elaborated. "A mastermind who has been behind all the attacks against me. It never really made sense how so many people kept on finding me. I didn't suspect anything until recently, though, because the gangs were pretty weak. But now I think I know why."

It was Sakura's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"They were gathering information about me," Sasuke finished. "Trying to see what I've been up to, where I've been going. Testing my skills and limits, retracing my steps. Most of them were probably basic mercenaries or sellswords who didn't even now who they were working for, if they were working for anyone to begin with and not just simply leaked my location."

Understanding showed on Sakura's face. "If that's the case…then it means they know you're after Otsutsuki relics," she finished. "What's why you came here."

"Yes," Sasuke confirmed. "I have a feeling that ancient knowledge of the Otsutsuki is tied up with Shin and his master. Why else would he need my eyes so badly, if not to exploit their power?"

Sakura visibly shuddered at the idea. "Do you think they want to bring back Kaguya?"

"I don't know."

The next minute or so of the journey passed in tense silence. Eventually, the pair of ninja stood before the entrance to one of the dusty living quarters Sasuke had seen before. Sakura peered inside, then swept away some of the cobwebs.

"It's as good a place as any," she gingerly stated, helping Sasuke onto one of the stone slabs that served as beds.

"Give me a day's rest," Sasuke promised, "and I'll get us out of here with my rinnegan."

Sakura nodded as she began to use summoning scrolls to set up camp. "Just so you know, Sasuke," she spoke, refusing to look at him, "I know why you did it."

Sasuke's breath hitched in his chest. He wanted to speak, to tell her that he was sorry, but it would have been a lie. He still clung to the conviction that she was better off without him, but in light of Sakura's determination and new tracking technique, trying to push her away seemed futile. He would just have to accept that she would travel with him if she wanted to.

It was a hard pill to swallow.

"What about Lord Fifth, and the Leaf?" he asked.

"Tsunade-sama finally sent me a personal reply to your message," Sakura explained. "She decided it would be too risky for me to come back to the village, now that Shin knows I'm a potential weakness for you. I've been given permission to handle the situation in any way I see fit."

"And what do you see?" Sasuke asked.

There was a long, pregnant pause. "That you need my help."

As much as his pride stung, Sasuke could not deny the truthfulness of her words.

"At least, you need it a lot more than the genin I've been treating for sprained ankles and fractured fingers, lately. Karin, Ino, and Hinata can handle the hospital for a while without me."

Sasuke almost chuckled despite himself, imagining the medical ninjutsu pioneer dealing with trivial wounds and annoying kids. In his mind, she bore the troubles with grace, however.

She'd make a good mother.

Sasuke shook his head and decided to carefully inspect the ceiling as means of clearing his brain of the disturbing thought. Much to his chagrin, however, the man found himself unable to expunge his fantasies of seeing Sakura in that context.

Images of her raising his kids buzzed around inside his skull like incessant flies. At first, he did his best to ignore them and force himself to sleep. As tedious hours passed, it became evident that his subconscious mind didn't want to give up on the idea. It grew clearer and clearer that the Uchiha would never be able to rest no matter how long he stubbornly laid there.

And so, despite his reservations, Sasuke embraced the visions of an alternate future. He let them buzz around in his head without opposition until the thoughts became more like the gentle, soothing water of a brook. He even managed to take some calming solace in that fact that he could at least live vicariously through his daydreams.

It wasn't long after that that Sasuke felt himself drifting off into sleep, fantasies of living out a mundane, domestic existence with Sakura comforting his ever-present pain.


	11. Chapter 11

"What's the matter, Sasuke?" Sakura asked with a frown.

Ordinarily she refused to question the Uchiha's sour moods. To do otherwise would be futile and drive her to madness, due to their constancy. The kunoichi made a rare exception this time, however; her laconic companion seemed particularly brooding.

The young six-paths follower looked lazily up at Sakura from his relaxed pose slumped against the massive tree trunk. His eyes were half-lidded and possessed a dull sheen of tiredness.

"Nothing," Sasuke lied impatiently. Then he looked away and began to fidget anxiously, his foot tapping the thick branch below him with spastic irregularity.

The Haruno did her best not to notice his poor attitude. Shielding her face with a flattened hand, she turned her attention to the golden sunrise that was currently flaring to life over the horizon. Her emerald eyes scanned the air for the telltale dark blot of a messenger hawk, but no such image presented itself.

Sakura kept staring. There wasn't much else to do except banter pointlessly with Sasuke, and the kunoichi _didn't_ want to do that. Things had been strained between the pair lately, and for once it wasn't entirely the Uchiha's fault.

When Sasuke had left her without a single word of goodbye, something had broken inside Sakura. She couldn't explain what it was or why it had happened, but the statement was true nonetheless. Subconsciously the woman knew that she had expected that the man would eventually try such a thing, but it evidently hadn't helped.

Curiously, Sakura realized with a frown, it wasn't her feelings for him that had shattered. Deep down, she still loved him, but his sudden departure had stung her in a way she hadn't been prepared for. Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that her love was _cracked,_ damaged, and would never be completely repaired again—but not destroyed.

The kunoichi found herself half-wishing that it had been destroyed.

 _Funny,_ she thought. _I know why he did it. It even makes sense from his perspective. And after all he's done, I was still able to forgive him. So why this? Why this betrayal?_

Sakura sighed. Emotions were complicated. Hopefully, her resentment would fade with time.

"We're exposed. Vulnerable," Sasuke blurted suddenly, taking Sakura away from her navel-gazing.

"Why does it not surprise me," the kunoichi began more bitterly than she'd intended, "that you of all people would be overly insecure about such a feeling?"

Sasuke let out an angry "Tch," and returned to sulking.

Sakura sighed. She would have been lying if she'd said that she didn't regret the comment. The Uchiha had clearly been beating himself up about what he'd done to her as well as to himself at the Otsutsuki temple. He doubtless felt incredibly foolish and weak about needing her rescue, Sakura knew, especially since whole reason he'd left had been for the opposite intentions.

To make matters worse, those two things were just about the worst a person could be if they were Sasuke Uchiha. Plus, there was a splash of resentment for her hidden somewhere in there as well. Completely impotent resentment, of course, since needing her rescue had pretty much ruined any chance he might have had to convince her that he didn't need her help. It was no wonder Sakura had found him repeatedly smashing trees and rocks with his chidori every night.

"Look, we may be visible for miles around," Sakura began reasonably, "but this isn't even the tallest tree around here."

It was true. The plant they were perched on was magnificently tall, but several more were taller still. The tallest loomed above them all, dwarfing its runner-up by nearly half again.

"Plus, this place is one of the few meeting places were Tsunade-sama's messenger can find us. Even if someone knew that, they'd have their eyes on that, over there."

Sasuke grunted resentfully in acknowledgement of the woman's logic. Oh, how she loved reversing their roles. Still, it seemed that her rationale had calmed the Uchiha somewhat. His twitching foot stopped, leaving him crouched perfectly still.

With nothing left for it, Sakura decided to mirror her companion. She plopped onto her rear and folded her legs underneath. The branch was more than wide enough to comfortably accommodate the kunoichi's posture, so she calmly removed a package of supplies and began to eat breakfast.

"Are you hungry?" she asked with a quizzical look from the corner of her eyes.

Sasuke shook his head.

To say that he had seemed…off…for the past few weeks would have been putting it mildly. In addition to his abnormally withdrawn behavior, the Uchiha seemed to possess a vacant, inattentive stare. Several times, the woman had caught Sasuke tripping over random objects, bumbling into obstacles, or taking easily-avoidable hits during their daily training sessions, even with his sharingan activated.

Something was clearly wrong. Even more so than usual.

It was, Sakura mused, as if he had uncovered some deep revelation. Though she had no clue at all what that revelation could possibly be.

At this point, the only reason he let her follow him was because he knew it was futile to do otherwise, and because he knew he needed her help. And the only reason Sakura followed him was because it was necessary, because Tsunade had ordered it, and because the triple threat of Shin, Shin's master, and the Otsutsuki needed to be stopped.

That was what the kunoichi deluded herself into thinking, at least. In reality, her reason for doing it was because it was impossible to do otherwise, as if Sasuke had used a forbidden jutsu to bind her soul to his.

Sakura dispelled these thoughts as she nibbled on nutrient-rich biscuits embedded with bits of dried meat and vegetables. It wasn't the finest of fare, but it was cheap and readily available, two traits in high demand for hungry ninjas on the run.

Given that she wasn't likely to have anything better until Shin was confirmed dead in the very least (and who knew how long that would take), the kunoichi tried to enjoy the food as best she could. It wasn't too hard; she'd had a lot of practice.

Lately she and Sasuke had been hopping around haphazardly and sticking to remote trails. They only entered towns with transformations, heavy cloaks, and under the cover of nightfall. Even then their visits were short: an hour or two at the most, which was just long enough to buy supplies sift around for rumors. To do otherwise would be to put people in danger.

They took shifts sleeping in trees or barrows and bathing in rivers. Sasuke spent most of his free time trying to decode the scroll he'd almost died for back at the Temple. He claimed to be making progress on deciphering the Otsutsuki's codes and language. Whatever the symbols were, they looked like geometric shapes to Sakura…only _impossible_ and _wrong,_ as if they could not truly exist under their world's baseline laws of physics.

It was to be expected of something created by beings who transcended dimensions, she supposed.

In any case, the Haruno had no grounds with which to criticize Sasuke's slow progress, especially since reading with one eye couldn't have been easy. Still, the Uchiha had managed to uncover several useful bits of information, though he had been loathe to speak much about it to her.

Sakura turned her head towards her sullen ally. As if on cue, he happened to be working on the scroll at that exact moment. A pen and leather-bound tome lay at his side, and he scribbled notes occasionally.

"Anything new?" she asked after watching for a while.

Sasuke glared at her, then looked back at his work. He sighed. "Yeah. I've had my suspicions, but I think I've recently confirmed it."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What?" she asked curiously through a mouthful of bread.

"A few days ago, I noticed several phrases are used frequently," he elaborated. Sakura swallowed, surprised that the Uchiha was speaking this much to her. Recently, his vocabulary had devolved into almost nothing but 'tch' and blank stares.

"At first, I thought they were technical jargon. The names of jutsus, techniques. Something like that. Then I thought they were places, titles, and so on," Sasuke continued. "But then, it dawned on me. I was mistranslating the conjugations of pronouns and sentence structure."

Sakura gave him a mildly frustrated look. It wasn't that she didn't understand the meaning of what he was saying. Rather, the thought process behind it was too alien to comprehend.

"Well, it's complicated," Sasuke dismissed with an annoyed wave of his hand. "Needlessly so. More than you can imagine. These cultists were extremely paranoid about something and everything here is alluded to in vague descriptions or coded language. The point is, the words I found…were names."

Sakura chewed on this for minute. "Names?" she asked. "Whose?"

Sasuke met her gaze, and it smoldered with intensity. His eyelids began to tremble slightly as his mouth slowly moved to form the words.

"Momoshiki. Kinshiki. And one other, who has been erased from the records."

Sakura scratched her chin, unsure what Sasuke was being so dramatic about. They were weird names for sure, but nothing imminently frightening. Unless…

Her eyes popped wide open. "They're…" she started.

Sasuke nodded. "Otsutsuki."

Silence, accented by a strong breeze. Sasuke's pages danced wildly on the draft of cold air. Sakura felt a chill and told herself it wasn't from what she'd just heard.

"Dead?" the kunoichi asked hopefully. "Or imprisoned, like Kaguya." It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement of her hope.

Sasuke shook his head. "No," he muttered chillingly. "They're out there, somewhere. And they're coming. How soon, I can't tell. But they will come. I can feel it.

"In fact, they've already been here. The cult speaks of these three as if they had terrorized them _after_ Kaguya was imprisoned. Apparently, they nearly wiped the loyal Kaguya supporters out, destroyed all the records, and formed counter-cults in their wake."

Sakura's jaw hung slightly open as she processed these words. No wonder Sasuke wasn't sleeping. Between this terrifying knowledge and the personal issues between them, the Uchiha had to be in constant turmoil.

What the Haruno wanted to do was hug Sasuke and hope that he'd tell her everything would be all right. Or ask him to wipe the memory of his words from her mind. But that would have been incredibly selfish. Someone ought to bear the horrible knowledge of the cosmic entities threatening the ninja world, and it might as well be her. She was immersed in it waist-deep now, and refused to let Sasuke carry the burden alone.

"So," Sakura hesitantly volunteered. "Whoever these three were, they must have been enemies with Kaguya." She didn't feel as if she really needed to explain the subtext, but talking helped keep the worries away.

Sasuke nodded. "It certainly seems so. But it runs deeper than that. Do you want to hear my theory?"

Sakura gulped, and nodded despite her reservations.

"Before you arrived, I was caught in a powerful genjutsu trap," Sasuke began ominously. Then he went on to explain, in frightening detail, the vision he had witnessed. Sakura's face blanched as she listened. "Stars spreading across the universe, countless planets, all sprouting chakra trees that drained them barren of life. Zetsu hordes, hellish dimensions, and three men coming to claim it all. And the worst thing is…the men I saw…they match the descriptions from the scroll."

Sakura took a deep breath and tried to hold back her fear. "So, what you're saying, Sasuke, is…" she trailed off, unwilling to voice the words aloud.

"My original theory was that Kaguya rebelled, and the chakra tree was simply a means of seizing power," he stated. "But I was wrong. It's not an isolated incident. The tree isn't natural, or even something Kaguya invented. These Otsutsuki are _farming_ the _universe,_ farming _us._ Intelligent life, I mean. Not just our planet, but all of them…perhaps even beyond this reality."

"W-why?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke rubbed his eyes and his temples. "I can only guess. Perhaps it's for a war, an even greater threat. In any case, one thing is certain: there are threats more numerous and more dangerous than Kaguya. I can prove that now. We must be prepared."

It was a lot to take in. "The Alliance has to know," Sakura said coldly.

"They will. When your hawk comes, I'll give Lord Fifth the basics."

Sakura nodded. Then, something suddenly occurred to her. "If all that's true," she thought out loud. "Then what do Shin and his theoretical master want your rinnegan for?"

Sasuke looked at her, and a wordless implication passed between them.

"Kami," she whispered, closing her eyes. It felt unfair to be disturbed by what she was hearing, since the black-haired shinobi obviously had it so much worse, having had a nightmare burned into his brain. Not the mention the fact that it was _his_ eyes that were on the line.

"Sakura," Sasuke spoke up again after loudly clearing his throat.

The kunoichi opened her eyes, blinked, and looked at him. "Yes?" she asked, both knowing and dreading what Sasuke would say next.

"If the worst should happen," he requested, "destroy my eyes. Remove them with medical ninjutsu first if you can, but just destroy them."

Sakura practically heard his thoughts. _I won't let myself be responsible for another infinite Tsukuyomi._

"I understand," the pink-haired woman answered. In the back of her mind, though, she hoped that she'd have the strength to go through with it. She'd already failed once with Obito. How much harder would it be to…to do _that_ to Sasuke?

Sasuke looked like he knew Sakura half-assed the vow, but decided to be satisfied anyway. He leaned back and stretched his shoulders. "In any case, our first step is to find Shin and get some answers. With any luck, Tsunade will have been able to help us out with that."

There wasn't much room to argue the sentiment, so Sakura didn't. She simply turned away, unable to bear looking upon the haunted features of Sasuke. She didn't like the idea of him carrying all of this knowledge and responsibility in his head. His sotic facade was even more of an act than it normally was, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Nearly an hour passed in silence, with only the wind, the scratching of Sasuke's pen, and the flutter of vellum pages to keep her company. Sakura didn't mind, though. She simply relaxed. enjoying the peace.

The kunoichi knew it wouldn't last long.

Besides, she was with Sasuke. That was all that mattered to her.

Eventually, the shadow she had been waiting for appeared in front of the now-risen sun. Sakura squinted and smiled when she saw it was a Konoha hawk with a scroll tube tied to one leg.

"It's here," she informed Sasuke as she swept windblown hair out of her eyes.

The Uchiha nodded and put away his things just in time to inspect the bird with his sharingan. Satisfied that it wasn't something other than what it claimed to be, he let the crimson tinge die.

Sakura let the animal perch on her gloved hand. It settled in with a comfortable-looking twitch, folded its wings, and swiveled to face the kunoichi with an almost friendly gleam in its eye.

"Hi, there Mitsuo," she cooed gently.

The hawk squaked once, but it was quiet and low. This elicited a chuckle from the woman as she carefully removed its message.

Sasuke suddenly approached from behind Mitsuo. The hawk turned when he got to close and let out a viscous war-cry this time.

Of course, this only made Sakura laugh harder. "I don't think he likes you," she said.

"Tch. What made you think that?" Sasuke spat. "Am I scary to you, beast, with these strange eyes?"

Mitsuo did not react to this. He just kept staring at the Uchiha, unblinking.

"He probably thinks you're going to hurt me or something," the pinkette stated. "Ever since he lost his mate, he's been protective of all the kunoichi. Especially me, for some reason."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Great. I've been reduced to competing with a damn bird."

The words hung in the air for a second before he realized the ramifications of what he'd just said.

Mitsuo squawked aggressively, flapping his wings and leaning forward this time.

"Tch," Sasuke grunted for what seemed like the thousandth time as he turned his back rudely on the hawk's display of masculinity. "I suppose it's just as well. With the hawk, that makes 'everyone else' plus one."

Sakura blinked, processing his words.

Mitsuo seized the opportunity and squawked a third time, his cries and gesticulations growing louder and more wild respectively.

"Hush," Sakura barked at the animal, placing a hand of warning near his wings. No matter how fast a non-chakra-wielding animal was, no matter how much strength it possessed or how sharp its talons were, it was nothing next to a trained shinobi.

Mitsuo knew this, and so he relaxed. His wings folded once again and he regained his regal posture as if nothing had happened. He turned to Sakura, eyed her, and then clacked his beak urgently.

The kunoichi sighed. "Fine, if it will shut you up," she muttered while retrieving scraps of jerky. After a minute, the pinkette held them out and let the hawk eat. He pecked in sharp, quick bursts as if starving, but somehow refrained from jabbing Sakura's hand. "Good boy," she told him.

To his credit, Sasuke was no longer antagonizing the bird. He elected to brood silently from several yards away instead, ebony locks of hair obscuring his facial expressions.

When the jerky was gone, Sakura stroked Mitsuo's brown feathers for a little while before dexterously unfurling the note with one hand.

She read silently for several minutes, her good mood turning sour. Sasuke let her finish, only triggering a few jitters and one more nervous squawk from Mitsuo.

 _Sasuke's not going to like this at all,_ she thought before looking up again.

She met Sasuke's questioning stare, and of course, so did Mitsuo. "I think this poor guy's pretty tired, and we'll need to compose a response anyway. We don't we head down and make camp?"

Sasuke shrugged and began to walk straight down the tree trunk as if it was a completely natural thing to do, because for shinobi, it was.

"Ok, you stay here, alright?" Sakura chimed with as sweet of smile as she could manage. "Sasuke-kun and I are going to come back with a message for you later."

Mitsuo looked at the woman like she was crazy, clacked his beak, looked at Sasuke, clacked his beak again, and shuddered.

"Oh, come on. He's not that bad."

The hawk starred disbelievingly.

Sakura sighed. "Look, this is how it is going to be, got that?" she growled dangerously, letting a little too much off her inner persona out.

Mitsuo saw the dark shadow of wrath in the kunoichi's smile and fluttered swiftly away with an abnormally high-pitched cry. He alighted calmly on a smaller branch and pretended to settle in for a nap.

Smirking in satisfaction, Sakura blurred. She re-appeared next to Sasuke horizontally on the trunk. "He won't bother us anymore."

Sasuke silently nodded and continued down the tree.

Then, when they had finally reached the floor floor, he said: "You look like a ghost, Sakura. What did the letter say?"

She took a deep breath. "Sasuke...there's no nice way to say this," Sakura began, "and you're not going to like it."

The kunoichi saw her companion turn to her with sad eyes. A faint shine of understanding flickered there. "He's an Uchiha," Sasuke deadpanned. "I'd be surprised if I did." He smiled wryly, but it was weak.

Sakura braced herself, then told him everything.

* * *

Kakashi's shadow clone inclined his head politely as Tsunade and captain Yamato entered the room. The blonde simply nodded in response and the wood-style jonin muttered, "Kakashi."

The copy ninja could practically feel the tension in the room. Neither the fifth hokage nor her guest were particularly cheerful people, but in that moment they seemed even more intense than usual. Whatever he had been called to discuss, it wasn't a trivial matter.

A dull silence filled the room, interrupted only by the heavy-yet-delicate rhythm of Tsunade's boots.

"Captain," she spoke while jerking her chin at Kakashi, "I've asked him to be here for your report."

Yamato nodded. "Of course, Lord Fifth," he replied with a curt bow. Then he raised a questioning eyebrow to Tsunade's stony face.

"Not yet," she said with a wave of her hands. "First, tell me, Kakashi: is Naruto hiding outside the window this time?"

The sanin's expression was grim and her voice serious, the clone noted. Evidently, she wasn't trying to lighten the mood.

Kakashi leaned against the wall and folded his arms in a way that would have seemed disrespectful if the other two people hadn't known him so well. "Yeah," he said at length. "The original's keeping him busy with...well, who knows what at this point."

Tsunade nodded. "Good," she agreed with a satisfied nod.

The kunoichi closed her eyes before continuing. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she finally spoke. And when she did, Kakashi heard a deep weariness in her tone.

"What we are about to discuss," she started with cold glares at the two men, "does not leave this room. It could cause a panic."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow, curiosity piqued. Now he _really_ wanted to know what had the blonde so shaken up. "Of course, Hokage-sama," he responded.

Yamato only nodded.

Tsunade looked down and shuffled a few papers, her eyes quickly scanning some of the scattered documents on her desk. "I have your official statements here, but I'd like you to explain in person, just to make sure we understand."

"As you wish," Yamato said. "Per your wishes, we conducted an interview with Orochimaru. What we found is...shocking, to say the least."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kakashi quipped with an eye roll. His dry humor had no effect on the other jonin, however.

"The short version is…" Yamato continued, "this 'Shin Uchiha' isn't a real Uchiha at all. He's another experiment by the snake-sannin."

Kakashi wasn't sure if he should be relieved or not. "Like Suigetsu?" he questioned. "Danzo's arm, Jugo, and...the others?"

The hashirama cell creation didn't show any reaction to the copy-ninja's words. "No. Not like any of them or myself. I'm a clone...of sorts. Suigetsu and Jugo were born naturally and modified later. If what he told us is true, Shin is something different than both."

"How so?" Tsunade prodded.

Yamato sighed. "Kakashi was right about one thing. Danzo's arm is similar to Shin," he explained. "In fact, they're the same."

The wood-ninja received confused looks. "What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.

"Shin is an artificial creation, and not a direct clone. Orochimaru confessed to designing him with certain abilities. Namely, his flesh can receive any kind of implantation, or be received, with zero chance of failure."

Kakashi nodded. Things were beginning to make sense. "That explains how Danzo was able to wield so many Sharingan so effectively, and why they were embedded in his arms," he finished. "His replacement limb was Shin's."

"Correct," Yamato supplied. "Although, that's not the entire truth. His cells also have the ability to rapidly grow, which made cloning his flesh from existing samples extremely quick. Orochimaru kept him unconscious in an underground lab in case he needed to cultivate replacement parts, but apparently abandoned the project."

"This explains quite a lot," Tsunade cut in, "except for the question of where his sharingan come from."

Yamato visibly gulped and it looked as if his face took on a sickened expression. "The final piece of the puzzle," he began. "Shin's DNA, his body...was made from composites of the entire deceased Uchiha clan."

Silence filled the room. It was quickly broken, however, by the agitated fist of Tsunade slamming solidly on the wooden table. The object protested with loud creaks and shifted several inches in response. "What!?" the blonde woman almost roared. "How is that possible?"

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama," Yamato answered. "But it seems we had some holes in our security that he was able to exploit. The interrogators are reviewing that with him right now, and I'll make sure you get a detailed transcript."

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose agitatedly again and sighed. "Fine. See that you do. I hope I don't need to tell you that this security breach is _unacceptable_ and must be corrected as soon as possible."

Yamato nodded enthusiastically. "Of course. I'll make it a top priority." He clapped his hands together in a seal of agreement.

Kakashi, lax as ever, stroked his masked chin. "So, if Shin was cultivated from Uchiha DNA, that would certainly explain his sharingan. Coupled with the rapid growth and implantation abilities, and, well, the pieces certainly seem to fall into place, don't they?"

Tsunade make eye contact with Kakashi, then gingerly took a seat as her pretty face swiveled back at Yamato. "Is he correct?"

"Yes," came the reply.

"There's just one thing that doesn't make sense, though," Kakashi murmured pensively. "Shin's sharingan seems...highly unusual."

Tsunade let her tired head fall lazily against the propped palm of her hand. "Care to elaborate? You're the only one in this room who has wielded a sharingan before."

Kakashi pondered the request silently for a moment, and then grunted. "It's a difficult thing to describe, but it's just not something the sharingan, even the mangekyo, should be able to do own its own. The doujutsu is powerful, yes, but remote control of weapons on this scale with nothing more than visual contact just doesn't match their chakra design." He made some vague gestures with his hands in an attempt to demonstrate the energy flow, but it didn't amount to much.

Tsunade seemed to accept his vague explanation, though. "Yamato?"

The wood-style jonin shook his head. "Orochimaru kept Shin in a permanent coma. He was able to activate one eye, but that was it. He claimed not to know how the others were created, or by whom. His studies of it were very brief, and the snake doesn't know much."

"And you believe him?" Kakashi shot back.

Yamato pursed his lips. "It doesn't matter what I believe," he stated carefully. "The Yamanaka think he was telling the truth, and it's not my place to question them."

"An honorable opinion," Kakashi said with a nod. "That means Shin would have needed someone else to free him, help him activate the mangekyo, and clone the eyes. It seems that Sasuke's theory had some merit after all."

Tsunade peered quizzically at the copy ninja. "You doubted his judgement? I didn't pardon Sasuke to second guess his skills."

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm just a master trying to be humble of his student."

"Fair," Tsunade said. She sat up straight. "I need some time to think about this. Sakura and Sasuke are clearly in danger, but Shin and his benefactor are a menace that must be stopped. Especially with the date of the Suna gathering approaching."

The implication hung heavy in the air, but Kakashi embraced it. The idea of two former students being sent against that monster alone was disturbing, to say the least, but the man understood the rationale behind it. Shin wasn't the sort of enemy you could fight with full squads. Superior numbers were next to useless against someone who could destroy towns with a whirlwind of flying swords. Plenty of good shinobi would die in a fight against Shin, and it didn't matter one bit how tough they were. And if he made it to Konoha...kami, the death toll would make the Uchiha massacre look like child's play. From Sakura's description of the man, not even seasoned jonin would be prepared.

Their only hope lay in a small, powerful strike team. All factors considered, this meant one Uchiha and one Haruno. The former was far from an average shinobi in terms of talent and raw power. He had the Deva path and the Susanoo', each of which was strong enough on its own to give Shin's abilities pause. And the later was nearly indestructible, at least if she had enough chakra to regenerate. They were a deadly combination, further bolstered by a tenuous and poorly-understood, yet close bond. If anyone had a chance of quickly taking Shin down (all factors considered), it was Sasuke and Sakura.

"I understand," Kakashi said. He turned sideways and slumped over in his trademark 'too-cool-for-this' pose, but it was a thin veil for his troubled feelings. "Do what you need to do, Hokage-sama. I won't interfere, and I'll continue to keep Naruto from doing so as well."

Tsunade nodded. "I'm glad you feel that way, Kakashi," she said with no small amount of sympathy sparkling in her eyes.

Sakura had been her student too, Kakashi understood with a stabbing sensation in his chest, and one who had been much closer to her than he had. Not that it wasn't understandable, of course. The copy ninja deeply regretted playing favorites and wished he had done a better job with the young, pink-haired genin.

Tsunade made eye contact with his singular orb. Kakashi thought he saw a flicker of understanding there. A moment of silent communication passed between the duo, each comforting the other with a long stare. The fifth hokage was on the verge of tears, he saw, though he knew she would die before losing control in front of anyone else. And the copy ninja...well, he felt like running home and pretending to take solace in smutty novels all day.

"Yamato," Tsunade ordered after breaking the awkward look, "I need that report. Go on back to the cave and oversee the work we've discussed."

Yamato made a sign of respect and bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama," he affirmed before swiftly leaving the room.

The office was dead silent until the jonin's footsteps had long since faded from earshot.

Kakashi and Tsunade looked at one another again.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

Kakashi shrugged and waved her off. "It's not your fault. You're only doing what's necessary. What's best for the village." He chuckled mirthlessly. "I should be taking notes."

Tsunade didn't have anything to say to this at first. She pretended to brush away a strand of blonde hair and covered her face.

"Then why does it feel so wrong?" she eventually asked, voice weaker than he had ever heard it. The sound sent chills down his spine.

Kakashi speculated, but he didn't voice his thoughts aloud. The answer was obvious.

"They'll come back," he assured her.

Tsunade looked away. "I have a letter to write," she croaked.

Kakashi nodded slowly, made a sign, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade let her head fall fully into the embrace of her cupped hands.

"Who were you trying to convince, Kakashi?" she asked the empty room.

Silence echoed back at her.

With a sigh, the world-weary hokage picked up a pen and began to write.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Notes:**

 **As the wise Samuel L. Jackson once said: "Hang on to your butts."**

 **Also, regarding the first part of this chapter, there's another quote I'd like to share with you guys.**

 **"There exists, for everyone, a sentence - a series of words - that has the power to destroy you. Another sentence exists, another series of words, that could heal you. If you're lucky you will get the second, but you can be certain of getting the first."**

 **― Philip K. Dick, VALIS**

* * *

A wide swath of barren land stretched downwards and then into the distance before Sakura. Nearly all of it was greyish-white in hue, only occasionally broken up by rare mounds of brown dirt or tan rocks. Spires of misshapen crystals protruded randomly from the floor of the area, their heights and circumferences ranging wildly.

The kunoichi squinted at the salt flats. The far rim of the bowl was almost too far away to see, though the lowest point of the terrain wasn't nearly as deep. Crouched on top of it was a squat, gangly structure composed of the same ugly material. The building was vaguely cuboidal, though menacing-looking spikes of earthy salt and convex imperfections dotted its surface.

"This must be it," she deadpanned.

As if on cue, a heavy drop of rain splattered against her pink hair and was swiftly followed by several others. Within moments, the flash rainstorm was beginning to soak her clothes.

Sasuke raised his thick, dark hood in response and nodded. "It seems to match Tsunade's description," he agreed, as if surprised the information in her missive had been accurate.

Sakura knit her brows as she mirrored her companion. She still felt dampness through the thick cloth, but her garment thankfully seemed to reflect most of the water.

"You don't trust her?"

The Uchiha slowly shook his head. "It's _him_ I don't trust."

Sakura winced before nodding slowly. With any luck, the former snake-sanin had been telling the truth and they _weren't_ about to step into a trap. Not that she could think of a legitimate reason for him to lie anyway. Shin was an escaped experiment of his, after all, and one that no longer even had any practical use to him anyway, especially since he represented a dire threat to the village that had spared his life and could end it at any given moment. Moreover, whoever had released the abomination was certainly no ally of its creator.

Still, Sakura had her doubts. If anyone understood Orochimaru's propensities for cruelty, wit, and deception, it was Sasuke. The fact that he was worried troubled her greatly. Looking back on everything Orochimaru had done, the kunoichi decided that it wouldn't surprise her to learn he had secretly masterminded a convoluted and dastardly plan with Shin and co. acting as his proxies.

"It doesn't change anything," Sakura whispered. "We have our orders. The only difference is that we must proceed with caution."

"Hrn," Sasuke replied.

It was clear that he wasn't too keen on the idea of taking orders from the Fifth Hokage. Sakura wondered if the raven-haired man would have been standing there at all if eliminating Shin didn't already coincide with his personal goals.

She didn't ask, but the kunoichi could read him well enough to note the absence of a flicker of recognition in his eyes. He hadn't been to this facility before, which made sense; there would have been little need for it, given that it had allegedly been designed for cloning.

Sasuke abruptly flicked his wrist. A long, sharp-tipped black metal rod slid smoothly from the palm of his hand, tiny curls of inky smoke billowing around the point of emergence. He did not let the object fully leave his body, instead choosing for it to stick out from his hand by approximately the same length as his hidden katana.

"What's that for?" Sakura asked with confusion.

"I have a theory I want to test," Sasuke explained while tucking the new weapon underneath his flowing cloak. "If I'm right, it will let me block his attacks without wasting energy on Amaterasu or Susanoo'."

Sakura grunted in approval; she could see where Sasuke was going with that. If he conducted chakra through the rod, there was a possibility that it could interfere with whatever Shin was doing to control his own weapons. Ordinarily, it was difficult to make that kind of plan work unless one was extremely proficient in chakra control—like she was—but since Shin and Sasuke's powers both originated from the sharingan, there was a possibility that his experience would give him an edge that others lacked.

"How about giving me one of those?" she asked.

Sasuke peered at her out of the corner of his eyes, then nodded in understanding. He removed his open palm from the cloak, lifted it upward, and let the object fully emerge. It settled into his grip with a dexterous snap of his hands, and he inclined it towards Sakura.

She took it gracefully, appreciating the impossibly smooth texture and light weight of the makeshift bo staff. Sakura twirled it a few times, testing its weight and suitability. In truth, she was out of practice with anything but medical ninjutsu and unarmed combat, but within moments some of her long-suppressed ninja tool training returned. With a nod, the kunoichi decided that the chakra rod would serve as an efficient blocker for Shin's flying blades, but if she had to engage in serious melee combat, it would need to be discarded.

Sasuke repeated his motion from before and Sakura tucked her longer version into the crook of her arm. Just knowing that something of the Uchiha's, something powerful, something of the rinnegan itself was near her made the woman feel more comfortable. It helped put her twitching nerves at ease and steel Sakura for the danger ahead.

"Ready?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura looked up and away into the stormy horizon. She saw a flock of birds scatter and then flap prudently into the cover of nearby forest. She savored even their harsh-sounding chirps, knowing that this might be last time she indulged in such simple pleasures as observing nature.

No, she wasn't ready. How could anyone ever be ready for such a thing? The secret to being a professional shinobi, the woman knew, wasn't a complete absence of fear, but learning to bury it under the weight of other emotions. There was that one thing, for everyone, that was worth fighting for. Worth protecting.

 _I might not ever be ready, but there's one thing I can do to clear my mind._

"Yes," Sakura answered solemnly. "But if we're really going to do this, there's one thing I have to know first."

Sasuke's annoyance was almost palpable, but he looked begrudgingly at her. "Hrn," he grumbled evenly, and there was a flicker of acceptance in his gaze. Sakura looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and saw that he looked contrite.

"Ask."

Sakura took a deep breath. Finally, it was time for the answer to her burning question.

"Tell me, Sasuke," she asked as calmly as she could manage, refusing to let her voice crack. "Why do you apologize so much? And don't try to lie. I want the truth this time."

The pressure of the rainstorm increased, and Sakura had to listen carefully to hear his next words.

Sasuke sighed. "The first time, it was because I let my ideals get in the way of your safety," he said. "I could have released my full power and killed those men before Shiro had a chance to…try that on you. But I didn't. And seeing that almost happen was the second most painful experience of my life. I was filled with rage, and it changed me. It reinforced something I've suspected for a long time.

"After that…I know you don't like to hear it, but saying it just felt natural. If I'm being honest, Sakura, I…"

Sasuke clenched a fist in frustration and looked away. He brooded for a long time before continuing.

"I like to think," he began slowly, carefully, as if each word was a hot iron that burned his mouth, "that in some alternate reality, things could have been different. I like to think that maybe, just maybe, if I wasn't so…well, I just regret how things turned out. You deserve better, Sakura. You deserve that other world. So, I tell you 'sorry' so often not because I think you want to hear it, not because I'm asking for your forgiveness. I know you've forgiven me and always will, but I will never be able to forgive myself. And I think you know that, too.

"But that's the miserable part of it, Sakura. I can't accept your forgiveness, and because of that, you suffer. Saying sorry is nothing more than part of my own selfishness." He chuckled, but it was dry and humorless. "Selfishness…that's what my whole life had been about. Why should this be any different?" He shook his head. "I can't give you what you want. It's not possible. I wish I could, but I can't."

He swiveled to face her and took a quick step forward to put himself in her line of vision. Sakura tried to escape, but Sasuke stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

The Uchiha held it there, his touch electric, until Sakura was forced to relent. She looked up slowly into his obsidian eye.

"Listen to me, Sakura," he said. His expression was blank, but those expressive eyes practically screamed of a deep, genuine sadness and pain.

"Nothing will ever happen between us. And I don't know if it's for the better or not. I also like to think it is, but maybe that's just wishful.

"But the point is, Sakura…" he trailed off, staring deep into her own emerald orbs. It felt as if he were peering into her very soul, and she into his.

"I'm sorry."

Sakura nodded, surprised that she had been able to whether the speech without crying; and not for herself.

It was Sasuke that Sakura wanted to cry for.

"Thank you," the kunoichi whispered, even though she instantly recognized that she had already known everything Sasuke had told her. Still, it was an euphoric release to finally hear the words aloud, to clear the air. Loose ends were something Sakura Haruno had learned to hate more than anything in the world.

"You're welcome," Sasuke replied, his tone surprisingly patient and understanding. He looked at her expectantly.

Sakura knit her brows and fiddled with her hands. "Sasuke, I think I lied. There's one more thing. Something I need to say."

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow curiously, even as his face became a mask of surprise. Understanding dawned, and it was clear that he knew what was coming, seeming both terrified and excited at the same time.

Sakura opened her mouth, then closed it. The pain was so intense that everything seemed surreal. It was as if her life had spiraled out of control and into a realm pure chaos and uncertainty. At one time, she had thought that what she had been about to say was a mistake. She feared that her words would break him, even as she knew they could also be his salvation.

"Sasuke, I…"

No. It needed to be said. The loop needed to be closed. With any luck, this time it would be for good, and their suffering could end.

There was a long moment of silence and pounding rain. Then Sasuke nodded. His black iris swirled into a crimson circle dotted by tomoe.

"Sasuke-kun. I love you."

A tiny drop of moisture fell from the sharingan, and Sakura saw another slide down the man's cheek from underneath his eyepatch of bangs. Sasuke's skin spasmed, with agony or with relief Sakura could not tell. Then he nodded once more, and turned away.

"I know. I've always known. And I'm sorry for that."

Dizziness overcame Sakura, and she swooned. Finally, after so many years, she had said those words. The kunoichi could scarcely believe it herself. And it proved just as much of a freeing experience as she had thought.

For a split second, she thought the pain had vanished. But after only a few seconds of relief, it came crashing back.

It still hurt.

Thankfully, the wound had transformed from a sharp, stabbing pain to a dull, throbbing one. Sakura instinctively understood that she would never be able to truly get rid of it, but she took solace in the fact that she knew it was something she could deal with. To know, once and for all, that her hope had well and truly died was magical. No longer did she wallow in the uncertainty, no longer did she cling to notions of a false reality more deluded than the most vivid of Sasuke's tsukuyomi. Instead, the Uchiha had, for the first time in her life, cast _down_ the illusions, releasing her from her own self-imposed mental prison.

Now she could focus on _living_ with the the pain, instead of trying to fight it.

"I need a better hood," Sasuke blurted suddenly, shaking Sakura from her thoughts. "The rain is getting my face wet."

Sakura laughed at the absurdity of the claim but decided to humor her companion. "Yes, Sasuke," she said with smile as she wiped her eyes.

This. This is how she wanted to remember him.

A strange feeling of contentment washed over her. Somehow, Sakura knew that if either or both of them were to die, she'd have no complaints about ending it on this note. They could never speak another word to each other in their entire lives, and Sakura wouldn't have regretted a thing.

"It's time to go."

Sakura wiped away the last of her tears, and nodded determinedly.

She and Sasuke had been over the plan more times than the kunoichi could count. They'd practiced, discussed theories and strategies, and more. They were well-rested, and their chakra levels were nearly full.

And, most importantly, their heads and hearts were clear. They knew where things stood.

There would be no better time.

* * *

Without further hesitation, the duo descended into the depression. Rain beat down on them dramatically as their feet crunched on the gently-sloping, crusty rim of the bowl. Small pools of saltwater began to form on the ground, and the darkening sky worsened their already-obscured vision.

With any luck, it would impede their enemy as much.

Sakura walked slowly and cautiously, as they had discussed. Gaining the element of surprise in this scenario would prove nearly impossible, so their best bet was to make Shin think they were civilian explorers. Rushing across the open expanse at jonin-level speed might serve to protect them from possible attacks, but it would also give away their identities and intent immediately.

Her green eyes scanned the air for shadows of projectiles, though, just as her trained ears listened intently for the telltale sound of whistling.

"Nothing yet." She whispered to Sasuke.

The rogue shinobi quickly covered her blind spots, then confirmed the same.

It wasn't until they were nearly one-fourth of the way there when something came at them from the darkness: a single spinning shuriken.

Not wanting to reveal their chakra rods just yet, the duo sidestepped the attack with as little grace as they could manage. Avoiding Shin's attacks, which could suddenly swerve midair and slice open a person's throat, were somewhat problematic to dodge without immediately revealing one's skill as a shinobi. As such, Sasuke and Sakura could do little to hide their abilities. They found themselves leaping many feet to the side, instantly separated by more than twenty yards.

A set of emerald eyes and a set of heterochromatic ones stared at the weapon, which embedded itself in a chunk of salt and did not continue to move. Tense seconds passed as they silently waited for the shuriken to seemingly lift of its own volition and continue flying at them.

It didn't happen. Instead, the object stayed where it was and did not even do so much as quiver.

Sakura glanced at her teammate and raised an eyebrow.

She could barely make out the image of Sasuke's shadowed face, but the woman saw his lips moving. _He may have a limited range. Let's keep going._

Sakura nodded and took a wide path around and away from the shuriken. No sooner had she joined up with Sasuke than another attack had come. This one was a barrage of six kunai, slicing lines of ninja wire slung between them.

Sasuke must have seen them first, because he was already moving by the time Sakura had barely registered the attack. The black-haired shinobi leaped forward diagonally, putting himself out the weapons' trajectory. Then he spun in midair, grabbed the trailing end of a kunai, and flung it away with such force that the rest followed. The clang of metal filled the evening air as all six kunai tumbled uselessly in a nearby pile.

"Thank you," Sakura said.

Or tried to, at least. Her words were cut off by the distinctive cry of metal whizzing through open air.

This time, the kunoichi was ready. She pivoted in the direction of the sound, saw an incoming demon wind shuriken, and aimed a punch at it.

Sakura's fist caught the oversized ninja tool directly between two of its star-points: exactly as she had intended. Then she felt a reverberation through her whole body from the sheer force of the strike, the extra chakra she had infused ripping the object apart. Twisted metal peeled in every direction as it ruptured into thousands of tiny pieces that would prove unusable, even to Shin.

The kunoichi smirked in satisfaction and turned to Sasuke. Where she had toughened her skin to stop the bits of shrapnel, it seemed as if the Uchiha had just simply avoided the spray with a series of acrobatics.

She opened her mouth but immediately forgot what she needed to say as a dozen bolts of flaming metal lit up the sky. Sakura instinctively readied a fighting stance, but it quickly became apparent that she wouldn't need it. The attacks were haphazard and clumsy, their gently-sloping downward spirals taking them nowhere near she and Sasuke. If anything, they were separating and spreading unnaturally in different directions as if they hadn't truly been aimed at the duo, but had instead…

It was too late. Not even Sasuke was able to predict what happened next.

The bolts of fiery metal landed, and where they did, massive bonfires erupted from the salt floor. Their flames roared as the valley's air itself popped thunderously with the pressure of expanding gas. They took on strange colors: greens, blues, oranges, and reds-even white—a consequence of the minerals from which they burned.

Sakura shielded her eyes against the blinding eruption of colors and heat. She stumbled, disoriented, but managed to plant her feet firmly in the ground.

From what little she could see, Sasuke was faring no better. His enhanced perception of the sharingan had likely left him even more vulnerable to the effect of the trap than she. Still, the man had been fighting for years, while she had been cooped up in a hospital. As such, the duo managed to regain their momentum at approximately the same time.

"He lit hidden oil wells," Sakura blurted as she made her way to Sasuke. The blowback of the explosions was strong, but she resolutely fought through it and came flush with his body.

"Ja," the Uchiha replied, still reeling. His body shuddered spasmodically, and his eyes were shut tightly. Twin streams of tears trailed from their creases he struggled to form a one-handed sign. The stoic grimace on his face belied perseverance, but Sakura knew it would not be enough.

Without hesitation, the Haruno kunoichi threw herself between the Uchiha and the nearest well of fire. Additional explosions echoed from it in staggered, staccato bursts, and she was forced to close her eyes against the sheer brightness. The kunoichi immediately felt her skin sizzling with the prickly hot-cold agony of minor burns, and she thrust a pair of crossed arms in front of her chest as a means of meager protection.

Through her head's hunched position in the crook of her arms and the deafening roar of exploding salt rocks, Sakura heard Sasuke's muffled voice speak.

"Wind Style," it said, "Vacuum Bullets".

There was a rush of sharp air flying past her body, lessening the searing heat. Bravely, Sakura opened one eye. Blinking away the pain of embers that had lodged in it, the kunoichi saw the explosions blown forcefully away from her and dispersed in all directions, thereby weakening their power. Where the well of expanding fire had once resembled a pillar, it now appeared as stream that trailed aimlessly in the opposite direction.

There wasn't time to marvel at the swift reversal, however. Sakura jerked her other eye open as more blades flew at her. This time, she abandoned all subtlety, picked up the chakra staff, and twirled it gracefully through the cloud of weapons. With each hit, her immense strength and disrupting field of chakra either shattered them into a million pieces or caused them to plummet to the ground, grounded and useless.

After several intense seconds of spinning and jabbing with her weapon, the barrage stopped. Sakura risked a quick glance back at Sasuke, who still braced his jutsu seal. More invisible pellets shot forth from his mouth, keeping the dying source of flames away from the duo.

She saw Sasuke's eyes (open, weeping, and bloodshot) quickly scan the area. There were about eleven other continuously burning wells to worry about, the frequency and intensity of their destructive bursts completely unpredictable. Several simply guttered threateningly, while others had died out, only to spread thin, spiderwebbing cracks of secondary fires. If additional oil deposits existed beneath their feet, there was no telling when or where other eruptions could happen.

Kami, the whole valley could blow at any moment for all Sakura knew.

Thankfully, several of the worst fires were too far away to be of much harm. The air was uncomfortably hot, but at that point their skin was only scalding mildly from the collective heat. The main factor was the brightness, which served only to blind and confuse the Konoha team while clearing line of sight for Shin, especially if the gestalt Uchiha was attacking from a raised position.

In other words, they were sitting ducks.

Sasuke spun now, rapidly firing air bombs at all the nearby wells in a continuous pattern while backing slowly into an equidistant position from them. Meanwhile, Sakura checked the skyline for blades, then spun on the closest well when she found it clear.

About thirty yards away was a gaping, craggy hole in the salt-encrusted earth. It glowed with residual heat, the melted minerals mixing disgustingly with the burbling, black, tar-like oil. A wave of putrid stench assaulted her nostrils, the smell of earthly bowels itself, but the kunoichi forced herself to ignore it. She had a job to do.

"Earth Style: Quaking Fist!" Sakura chimed while rapidly forming several seals, then dropped to her knees and slammed her hand against the ground. Her chakra-enhanced hit transferred an obscene amount of kinetic energy into the rock below her, causing it to crack and liquify within a large radius.

That was where the ninjutsu took over. It was a very minor technique, owed to the fact that the woman's forte was with chakra control and not traditional elemental power. It didn't need to be brilliant though: all the 'Quaking Fist' jutsu (as she had dubbed it) did was channel already-existing force in a specific pattern using gravitational manipulation. In this case, that pattern was a straight line.

An instant later, the ground began to crack and explode in a series of leaps and bounds, extending outward to the oil well. Mud, showers of rocks, and broken, shifting earth crashed into the maw with cataclysmic power. The lingering flames were smothered and died as a horizontal landslide swept over the hole, burying it in a tomb inflammable material.

With the fire's source of fuel cut off, it crackled and died. Sakura smirked and stood up as she channeled green healing energy to counteract her wounds.

Sasuke rushed up next to her and inclined his head in the slightest gesture of respect. Then he barked, "We need to move."

Sakura could not agree more. She kicked off the ground with her feet, tucked her arms behind her body, and used her momentum to begin speeding towards the square structure.

Her companion instantly joined her, and within the span of a few heartbeats they had covered significant ground. Their good luck wasn't meant to last, though, as evidenced by the sudden wall of fire that appeared before them. The earth splintered as the next spire of flame shrunk and distributed itself across multiple segments that dotted the landscape.

Additional waves of painful heat stung the duo, and they came to a grinding halt. Before either of them could do anything, though, the cracked ground began to spew gas that quickly caught fire.

"Wind Style: Breeze Barrier," Sasuke cried while forming another seal, evidently having dropped his chakra rod somewhere along the way.

Flames that would have incinerated them were instead swept into a violent vortex of air. They immediately flashed bright orange as the jutsu gorged them with even more fuel, and Sakura was thankful that Sasuke had seen fit to create the spinning wall in a wide circumference.

"Watch out!" Sakura yelled while gesturing at another barrage of remotely-controlled weapons. They sliced and curved wickedly through the air as if alive with menace. Seconds later, they would pass right over the exposed 'ceiling' of the jutsu and perforate a distracted Sasuke from multiple directions at once.

The kunoichi was surprised, though, when it became evident that Sasuke had a plan. The vortex shrunk and swirled as the Uchiha sucked in a lungful of air, its entire pressure and distribution of flames condensing into a tight orb that collected in front of his mouth.

The man didn't speak the words, but Sakura could almost feel their exhilarating power.

 _Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!_

The orb expanded in size as Sasuke added his chakra to its own, doubling, then tripling it again. A massive ball of fire and compressed air the size of a city block hovered in front of his face as he arched his back to thrust the orb into the sky.

Some of Shin's weapons were immediately caught by the fiery-wind-ball. They thrashed wildly inside the depths of the orange object, tumbling against the air currents as they melted. The few that didn't get away, Sakura swiftly slapped away with her staff.

Sasuke wasn't done yet. He aimed the fireball at the top of the square building and released it. Some of the jutsu dissipated before the attack struck, but the ball was still quite large. It engulfed the upper exterior of the structure on the duo's side, ensuring that Shin would have to re-position himself before attacking again.

Although the Uchiha had bought some time, Sakura knew they weren't safe yet. Without the wind armor to disrupt the fires around them, they would simply re-appear.

Luckily, the kunoichi had a solution for that. With a vicious punch against the ground below her once again, she sent thousands of powerful vibrations into it. The earth was rapidly broken apart and liquified until she and Sasuke were standing on a large pool of dirt slurry. The mixture filled the cracks, depriving the smoldering flames of oxygen.

Ordinarily a few words might have been shared, but there was no time. As soon as they were safe, she and Sasuke began running towards the building again. Falling rocks clattered around them as they ran, covering open wounds they didn't even know they had in layers of powdery salt. Some of the larger rocks they dodged, others they smashed so as not to slow themselves down. Sasuke used his pressure bombs to blow away any minor fires that sprung up near them, and Sakura deflected more of Shin's blades when they eventually resumed. It was a chaotic, stressful blur of motion, yet mercifully brief (though it didn't seem that way).

What could easily have been seconds later, Sakura stopped in the mouth of large, white cave entrance. The kunoichi cursed as she picked salt from her cuts and burns as fast she could, then closed them with medical ninjutsu. Her eyes ached from the stray embers and multicolored flashes throbbed in her vision. Blinking, she was able to restore some functionality, but knew it would be some time before the blurry patches completely faded.

Sasuke stopped, took a deep breath, and pivoted. "Earth Style: Mud Wall," he said.

A groaning wall of muddy salt raised itself from the space in front of the yawning cave entrance. Over the course of several seconds, it completely covered the large opening with a layer of rocky minerals several inches thick, then hardened.

Sakura felt the heat finally abate and sighed. "Are you okay?" she asked Sasuke, not bothering to hide her concern.

"It hurts, but I'll be fine," the Uchiha replied through heavy pants.

Sakura frowned and approached him. Maybe the ill-tempered shinobi was too tired to resist, or maybe he wanted the kunoichi's attention more than he let on, but he did allow her to work on his wounds as well.

"That's good enough," Sasuke said at length. His breathing had returned to normal as a result of the combined healing and rest. He stood up straight and created another chakra rod spike in his palm. "I doubt our opponent will give us much time to recover."

Sakura nodded resolutely and shifted her grip on her own black rod as she studied the area.

The duo had evidently entered the interior of the building. However, the space did not resemble the layout of an ordinary structure in the slightest. While it had clearly been made by human hands, the cave-house more closely resembled a natural cavern than living space.

Large pillars of spiky crystal and salt supported a towering ceiling. Dark holes of varying sizes dotted their surfaces at random intervals. Some were barely wide enough for a small snake to pass through, while others had enough room for two humans to walk side-by-side. Shelves of rock were lined with more holes, and there were even a few in the floors and lower portion of wall. Most were too far away for Sakura to guess anything about their use, but it seemed obvious that if there were laboratories and living quarters, they were somewhere within the tunnel network.

There was little time to speculate about the extent of the square cave, however. A large lake dominated most of the scene. Its perfectly still, beautiful waters were somehow crystal clear, despite the salty basin in which it rested. Light refracted from its surface, playing off the crystalline layout of the surrounding area in gentle patterns and waves.

Sakura felt a wave of tranquility wash over her. There was something about the pool that made her just want to walk slowly into it. Perhaps she should bathe in those magnificent waters? Yes, that seemed like a good idea. Surely their soothing touch could cure her ailments.

"Sakura, no!"

The kunoichi's head jerked in response to the male voice from behind her. She'd almost forgotten his presence entirely, and hearing Sasuke bark so exasperatedly set off something primal within her.

Focusing her will, Sakura cast the alluring waters from her mind. "Kai!" she breathed as the woman formed the seal of release.

The gentle light was gone, and so was the eerie appeal off the lake. For the first time, the kunoichi saw the object for what it truly was. The surface was still undoubtedly reflective, but the depths far beneath were cloudy and foreboding. It did not sit serenely still, either, but rather rocked and burbled with force of the explosions tearing the land apart outside.

And dotting its surface was a score of eyes: menacingly red, with a disturbing pit of soulless black in the middle.

Sakura shivered in horror and leaped to the side. She was forced to twirl her chakra rod as a line of kunai lashed at her. Within seconds, the missiles littered the floor as piles of metal shavings and shrapnel.

Before she could act further, a chalky white blur landed in the middle of the lake. More sharingan were reflected in its surface as Shin balanced gracefully on the water's edge.

"Sasuke!" the man rasped, peering at the other Uchiha hatefully as he ignored Sakura completely.

Horrid eyes still dotted his albino frame, but Sakura noticed that four, maybe five of them were puffy, bruised, or sealed shut, weeping with sickening fluid. A sixth, which was embedded in his chest, was opened wide but showed only a milky, sightless iris: a victim of the Izanagi, just as they had assumed.

Neither of the Konoha ninja hesitated. Sakura let out a cry of "Shannaro!" as she sprinted in a haphazard, weaving path at Shin.

At the same time, the kunoichi saw Sasuke aim his palm at Shin. The black rod he'd created earlier ejected at high velocity and flew at the Uchiha perversion with cold-blooded killing intent.

In response, the man's eyes bulged. A chunk of his right arm, the one that was composed of interlocking razor blades, detached itself. Seconds before the chakra rod struck, they assembled themselves in a shield-like configuration and stopped the attack.

 _So,_ Sakura thought with satisfaction, _he was right. Shin can't control weapons infused with another person's chakra._

Refusing to give Shin a chance, the woman doubled her speed and closed in for the kill. She was driven back suddenly, though, by kunai that emerged from his pouch and dove straight at her. Sakura backflipped and brought the rod up defensively, but the knives banked and stabbed into the ground all around her. At that point, she noticed the paper bombs attached to their ends.

"Shit," Sakura cursed, folding her limbs as she contorted and leaped wildly to avoid blast after blast. Her efforts were successful, but it distracted her long enough to give Shin a chance to move. She skidded backwards, trailing smoke that billowed from many burns as she collided painfully against a pillar.

Sakura's bones rattled and her lungs violently rejected breath, so she slumped over and struggled for her second wind. Green energy began to wrap around her body like a throng of snakes, erasing the red and black char marks wherever they touched. Looking up, she was able to see what happened next while healing herself.

The Uchihas squared off, glared at one another, and then exploded into motion.

Sasuke's chakra rod fell to the floor as pieces of Shin's metal barrier broke off and flew at him in rapid succession. In response, Sasuke summoned another rod and handed it off to a long, sinuous Asura path arm that emerged from his back. It blocked what few incoming missiles he could not give a wide berth with his leaps and dodges, while his now-freed flesh hand formed a Phoenix Flower sign. Small patches of smoldering fire cascaded from Sasuke's mouth in timed bursts every time he changed directions.

Some impacted Shin's flying razors, melting them with intense heat and further reducing his offensive power. Others made it past his defenses and forced the man to glide wildly across the surface of the water in evasive circles. They crashed into the now-frothy water of the lake, creating clouds of hot steam.

The duel continued as Sakura watched, calculating her best move.

After a several seconds of intense concentration, the kunoichi had a plan. It wasn't the safest of ideas, but risky strategies tended to carry excellent rewards.

She charged forward once again, winding like a mad snake to throw off Shin's predictions. To the insane man's credit, he did manage to keep up with her fairly well despite his ongoing duel with Sasuke. She had to catch up with every weapon he threw her way in order to make sure that Shin couldn't sneak any past her for a later surprise attack, so the going was slow. The effort strained Sakura, but wasn't overly difficult given that Shin seemed to be holding back.

Eventually, the dancing kunoichi had progressed halfway to the lake's edge and Shin was beginning to panic. "Enough of this!" he screamed with savage glee. "You cannot stand up to the might of the ultimate Uchiha!"

Sakura stopped, bracing herself for whatever would happen next. All she needed was to land one hit on the man, and she was sure that she could kill him. Patience was her greatest ally, and Sakura was determined to survive his assault.

The components that had once been Shin's metal arm swirled into the shape of a gigantic demon wind shuriken. Other discarded scraps of metal and weaponry that he had flung earlier began to wiggle, roll along the ground, and then tumble through the air towards the projectile.

As Sakura watched, the mass of the obscene, twisted object began to grow. Sharp studs, spikes, and saw-like metal ridges covered its surface. The thing looked like it could have sheared a mountain in half with raw cutting power. She had no idea what he planned on doing with it, but the kunoichi knew that she needed to prepare some measure of defense against it.

For his part, Sasuke stopped his barrage and planted his feet in the ground. His eyes shut in concentration as his one hand made a stiff seal. The Asura arm on his back was slowly joined by the sprouting limbs of two brothers, Sasuke's body shaking with exertion.

When they reached the size of the original, all three began to grow larger still. Within seconds each was longer than Sasuke was tall and almost half as thick as his shoulders were broad. Compartments began to appear, panels sliding back to reveal row upon row of missiles poised for the launch.

"Your sage paths won't save you," Shin cackled toothlessly. Every eye on his body bulged and made squishing sounds so loud that they cut over the din of the combining weapons. Then he raised his remaining arm, suspending the oversized shuriken several feet above his head.

"DIE!" the albino monster yelled as he charged maniacally forward on the water's surface, then flung the object with all his might.

It was so large that it destroyed several of the snake-hole columns that supported the ceiling. White powder filled the air as the mass of blades vibrated at supersonic speeds, slicing through everything in their curving path with horrid, grinding destruction.

From the look of it, the shuriken seemed to be spinning towards the space between her and Sasuke, so Sakura guessed that Shin's intent was to make it explode. Swiftly, she drew out her coils of ninja wire and flung it into the space between her and the oncoming death. Spaced out in even intervals on the wire were dozens upon dozens of paper bombs. Between the power of her own explosions, a few well-timed seismic bursts, and her healing arts, the kunoichi knew she would probably be ok.

Shin smiled deviously, and raised his flesh hand. "Ninja Art," he drawled ominously. "Summoning: Apocalypse of Steel."

Sakura's eyes widened as icy horror washed over her. _Oh no,_ the kunoichi thought, noticing it for the first time.

It was difficult to make out, but there, in center of the shuriken, was a large summoning seal. The lines were faint and spider-web like, but it was definitely there. Moreover, it appeared as if the entire seal were composed of thousands of smaller seals painted, segment by segment, across all of the blades.

That explained why she hadn't seen it before...Shin's ultimate attack was designed to be completely unpredictable. Since he seldom attacked with the special blades that made up his artificial arm, it was almost impossible to notice the symbols drawn on them: not that it would have helped much. Individually, the shapes were small enough to seem meaningless. Together, though, they formed a massive, powerful, and mobile summoning seal whose power could only be guessed at.

There were a half dozen more flashes of smoke, and suddenly there was not one, but _seven_ of the monstrous weapons flying through the air. Sakura cursed and readied her activation sign for the paper bombs, but knew that it was futile. The spinning blades completely surrounded her and Sasuke now from all angles.

"Sasuke!" she bellowed.

The Uchiha didn't have time to answer. The first shuriken went off.

Before it did, it began to spin at blinding speed, causing the individual shards to burst outward with just as much force. Sakura was sure that if she hadn't set the paper bomb defense, she would have been sliced to ribbons, one-hundred-healings or no.

"Kai!" Sakura yelled soundlessly as she exerted her chakra.

A wall of sound and fire erupted in a series of coordinated explosions. It met Shin's wall with just as much ferocity, melting blades and sending others flying away with the pressure of shattering gases.

Sakura smirked in satisfaction, then grimaced as the blast died down. A few projectiles had made it through and were now embedded in her guts. Blood burbled from the woman's mouth as she slumped over. Shin must have sent the explosion off in a staggered fashion. Smart.

Spitting blood, Sakura ignored the pain and staggered forward in a charge. As she went, leaving a trail of blood behind her, she formed a Quaking Fist seal and slammed both of her hands into the ground. With a cry of "Shannaro!" a wall of splintering rocks had interposed itself between her and the first blast of Shin's apocalypse.

Even as her makeshift barrier began to get shaved down by the blades, Sakura concentrated and activated her most powerful jutsu. With a deep, agonizing breath, the woman steadied herself, took a wide stance, and forced chakra through her body.

Dark tattoos spiraled across her flesh, forming bizarre patterns and hypnotizing swirls. The shards of metal that had stabbed her were ejected from her body, and the bleeding stopped. Sakura's stomach-flesh re-knit itself with a white-hot itch, and she breathed a sigh of relief-painless, this time.

 _I've survived a lightning bolt with this, Shin,_ she thought to herself. _Do your worst._

As if the depraved killer had heard her thoughts, Shin clenched his hand in a seal once more.

One by one, separated by mere seconds, all six remaining shuriken exploded.


	13. Chapter 13

It was difficult amidst the chaos to tell how Sakura was faring. As such, Sasuke begrudgingly decided to ignore his uneasiness for her safety and instead focused on defending himself from the doom that was approaching. Besides, the paper bombs had cut off the Uchiha's vision of her, and there was little that he could do now.

Channeling a tensei, Sasuke repelled the first exploding shuriken with blast of overwhelming force. It was difficult, but he managed to ward off the attack and crumple the incoming blades.

A split second later, when the others began to go off, the Uchiha knew he was in deep trouble. The sensible thing to do would be to call upon Susanoo': from within its safety, his combined powers could comfortably protect him from even this seemingly unstoppable assault. He had survived worse during his final battle with Naruto at the Valley of the End, after all, and now he had even greater command of his rinnegan abilities. In a likelihood, he could have even launched a retaliation back at the false Uchiha.

As sound as the strategy might ordinarily be, Sasuke knew it was fruitless. Unlike the Uzimaki, Shin was packing extra eyes that he could sacrifice for Izanagi. Repelling the man's attacks wasn't good enough: he'd have to survive while using minimal effort so that he could devote his higher abilities to killing him as many times as necessary.

On a chakra-to-chakra basis, Sasuke figured he was perhaps evenly matched with the unnatural experiment. The key difference between them, however, was that Sasuke had a masterful command of his family's signature doujutsu, Amaterasu, as well as the Susanoo'. Shin did not have this visual prowess and would therefore be outmatched if Sasuke could bring it fully to bear. Thus, it would have been foolish of him to waste it on defense. His time limit for advanced doujutsu was his most limiting factor, as well as his most powerful.

Sage paths would have to suffice, at least for now. It was a risky gambit, but it was his only choice.

Without hesitation, Sasuke unleashed his barrage of missiles. The torpedo-like bombs soared forth in neat formations, guided by his chakra no less proficiently than Shin commanded his own attacks.

They met the oncoming catastrophes one at a time, perfectly matching the tempo of the whirling explosions. Steel sublimated and was scattered to winds as missile after missile blocked shuriken annihilation piece by piece. Whenever the steel storm swooped at him from a new viscous angle, fiery blasts were there to smash it away. Some of the missiles even expanded with swirling nets of razor-sharp wire, slicing the shuriken components to pieces or otherwise trapping them to be destroyed.

It was a tapestry of violence fit for storybooks and art museums.

But it was not enough. Sasuke's Asura arms were rapidly running out of ammunition, and he was unable to generate more without rebuilding the limbs: something he didn't have time for. One arm was completely spent, and the others would soon follow.

"Shinra…Tensei!" Sasuke screamed, but the words were lost inside the ear-smashing cacophony.

The repulsive technique he had unleashed earlier expanded, adding invisible segments and panels to cover holes in his defense that the depleted missiles couldn't handle. More and more blades came, impossible in number. They were stopped, though, by his rinnegan power. Most of them crumpled into unwieldy heaps or hung, suspended, in midair.

The young Uchiha was forced to slam his eyes shut and devote his full brain power to concentrating on the tensei. His Asura limbs were depleted and began to fold in on themselves, so he let them flop uselessly to the ground, preferring instead to redirect the chakra needed to power them into bolstering his Deva path.

Even with the extra energy, Sasuke felt his body shivering with exhaustion. He was practically hemorrhaging chakra, and lances of pain were stabbing through his network like hundreds of tiny daggers. The stoic Uchiha grit his teeth, though, clenched his muscles, and pummeled through it.

Ordinarily, his time limit for the Deva path would have already ended, which was undoubtedly the cause for his pain. The longer he kept it up, the more damage he did to his body. It would be a long time before he could use it again, but the tradeoff was well worth it.

This state went on for what seemed like hours, but it eventually ended. The last of Shin's Apocalypse Shuriken had expended itself, and all that remained were a few paltry knives. With a heavy sigh, Sasuke calmly released the tensei.

There was an inaudible, but somehow noticeable sucking sound, and the forcefields dissipated. Shin's weapons wavered dangerously in the air for a few seconds, mere silhouettes in the omnipresent dust cloud that filled the room.

Sasuke coughed uncontrollably, blinked away the tears, and readied himself.

However, the floating blades did not fly towards him. Instead, they retreated slowly into shadows of the clouds.

 _What are you playing at, Shin?_

Sasuke pivoted and silently repositioned himself, hoping that the clogged air would be enough to conceal his position. He let the Asura limbs retract into his body seamlessly and dissipate, their services no longer required. Utilizing them in an area with such low visibility was foolish, and Sasuke had better methods of close-quarter defense.

There was a quiet pop, and he drew his katana from its summoning sigil tattooed on his bare palm. He gripped it tightly but reverently, savoring its reassuring presence as one would savor the presence of a close friend.

And, in many ways, the sword was just that.

Mentally cursing, Sasuke searched the grey, acrid air for any sign of Shin…or Sakura. He had to suppress his urge to call out for the kunoichi, and his heart throbbed with cold fear.

 _No, she can't be,_ the Uchiha told himself. _She's made of tougher stuff. Sakura can't be dead. Oh Kami, please…anything but that._

Begging the spirits in this fashion surprised Sasuke: he'd never thought it would come to pass. But then again, many things had changed for him recently. He had gained a whole new level of appreciation and respect for the woman, although his convictions about the necessary distance between them would not—could not ever change. Sasuke held fast to them even as he prayed for her survival.

A quarter-second of blurring darkness was the only warning the Uchiha received. Sasuke instinctively parried with his sword without realizing what he was doing, and it was a miracle that he wasn't impaled while distracted with thoughts of Sakura.

Inches from his face, Shin's nightmarish visage leered back at him. Sasuke swallowed and redoubled his strength, forcing the katana to keep Shin's own weapon at bay.

"Ssssaaaassssukkkke…" the Uchiha imposter hissed, his tongue flapping wildly and his sewn-open eye staring back with spine-tingling hate.

"Shin," Sasuke grunted, his katana vibrating under the strain.

Shin licked his lips and smirked. "Very impressive. No one has survived my Steel Apocalypse style before. But I'm afraid it won't be enough."

Sasuke narrowed his red mangekyo eye. "Is that so?"

Shin opened his mouth to retort but was contorted by a flash of pain as chidori surged through the katana and into his own metal weapon. He spasmed as his eyes went wide, ivory flesh beginning to sizzle slightly. Then, with an animalistic grunt, he yanked his fist backward and dove to the side.

Sasuke, still recovering from his massive ninjutsu feats, also took the opportunity to disengage. He stepped back, spun, and kicked off the ground, aiming for the space that he estimated would bring him directly across from Shin's landing.

It was impossible to know for sure with the obscuring smoke covering the area if his maneuver had been successful. It was only just starting to finally dissipate, but Sasuke hoped his sharingan would broadcast Shin's location.

The Uchiha took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to cough. His lungs burned, but he had mastered his body long ago.

Learning from his prior mistake, Sasuke shoved all thoughts of Sakura from his mind. As wrong as it was, he needed calm focus if he wanted to beat Shin in a pitched cat-and-mouse taijutsu battle. The fact that she could have been bleeding out in writhing misery at that very moment was secondary to his own survival. It was a cold, but not entirely invalid strain of logic: he couldn't very well help her if he was dead, now could he?

 _That's all that matters,_ Sasuke told himself. _You need to live through this, if for nothing other than that._

That's when he saw it: a blue aura of human-shaped chakra. It flickered in the distance, then crept closer.

Sasuke frowned. He refused to be deceived by such an obvious trick. Letting his chidori die, the man repositioned once more and scanned the area for a sign of another attack. The chakra signature disappeared like a candlelight in heavy wind and was no more.

 _Right or left?_ The last human-born Uchiha wondered.

Luck was not on his side this time as Shin lurched at him from behind a veil of dark smoke. The charge came from the opposite side that clutched his sword, and the flare of chakra- Shin's weapons, do doubt-came too late for him to react.

Shin's wet laugh filled the cavern as his blade bisected Sasuke.

It turned to a gasp of surprise, though, when the abomination found himself slashing at a spinning piece of metal.

It was a mere substitution, and the real Sasuke dove at him from _his_ unarmed side.

Katana-steel gouged the side of Shin's torso, carving a thin red swath that put out another one of his sharingan with a morbid squelch and a spray of yellow eye fluid.

Evidently, Shin's more numerous eyes had given him superior reflexes. He twisted at the last second, avoiding the full force of the strike. Using his momentum, he leaned to one side and swung a spike-tipped uppercut at Sasuke's exposed chest.

The blow never connected. Instead, Sasuke pivoted, braced himself with one leg, and used the other to hook Shin's knee from behind. The latter man flailed as he lost his balance, stumbled backwards, and dropped into a roll.

Sasuke recovered and prepared to follow up on the attack, but a sudden glint of steel interrupted him. Shin raised his fist halfway through the roll and released one of the spikes. It dove straight at his face, and the former leaf shinobi was forced to duck.

Looking behind him for microsecond, Sasuke saw the weapon disappear into the smoke. As it passed, he thought he saw something strange: another one of those humanoid chakra auras. It was attached to the spike as if using it to lunge with one hand, the way an actual shinobi might do.

Shaking his head, Sasuke dispelled the thought. It was probably another of his opponent's tricks. Shin was surely trying to make him think that he was somehow in two places at once or had some sort of ghostly assistance.

But that wasn't possible, was it?

Sasuke raised his katana and settled into a defensive crouch as Shin recovered from the roll. The two men eyed each other from across the expanse, smoke clearing enough to prevent further stealth at that range.

"Well played," Shin croaked as he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders casually. "You're becoming quite adept at taking away my sharingan. It's too bad I can make more."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. This ends here, Shin. You won't be able to clone yourself when you're dead."

Shin clucked. "Shame, Sasuke. Did you not notice that your whore has already perished?"

The ebon-haired ninja frowned, his blood pumping hot. "Lie. Sakura is stronger than that."

Sasuke didn't know who he was trying to convince: Shin, or himself.

Shin quirked, then rolled his mundane eye and nodded slightly. "Perhaps she still clings to life, then. All the better. She'll wish she was dead when I get my hands on her." The madman accented his lewd comment with a lick of his lips.

Sasuke grit his teeth, hot fury rising underneath his skin. He narrowed his eyes at the twisted man in front of him. "Is that so?" he asked with a slight upturn in one corner of his lips. "Then here's a word of advice; fight hard, because I'm giving you the same promise."

The Uchiha imposter seemed taken aback for split second. Then he arched his back and let out a deep belly laugh. "You really mean it, don't you _Sasuke-kun_?" he chortled, throwing a falsetto on the last word.

When his mirth finished, Shin stood up straight once again and flexed his muscles until sinew and veins bulged grotesquely beneath his leathery white skin. He fixed every one of his bloodshot eyes on Sasuke directly and tensed so hard that Sasuke thought the man might be hurting himself.

The younger Uchiha braced himself for an attack that never came.

"We're more alike than you think, then," Shin growled, his voice low and dripping with malice. He leaned forward. "You say that I'm not a real Uchiha, and you think of me as a monster."

Sasuke quietly scanned the area, alert for any sign of ambush or deception. He didn't know if his opponent could make clones, but he didn't want to risk getting sucked into conversation that might ultimately be a ploy.

When he saw none, he fixed his unblinking stare back on Shin and raised an eyebrow as if to say _yeah, and your point is?_

The pale man laughed again. "How stupid you are, Sasuke. The prodigious and last child of the clan, inheritor of Amaterasu, reincarnation of Indra…and yet you are nothing compared to my perfection. I am the final evolution of our clan. Their spirits, their knowledge and genetics and power live within my body and soul, mine to command as I see fit."

"You call this 'perfection'?!" Sasuke barked back while beginning to circle slowly with his katana dancing threateningly. He tried to keep his insecurities about the clan out of his tone, replacing it with the harsh edge of rage instead. "Your very existence degrades the memory of the once-noble Uchiha. Your body is a desecration. How can you call that 'perfect'?"

Shin began to circle in the opposite direction, weaving his own weapon in graceful patterns. Now that the smoke was beginning to clear even more fully, Sasuke could see for the first time what sort of blade Shin favored in melee combat.

It was a wicked-looking makeshift katar composed of dozens of individual metal shards, blades, and interlocking teeth. The hand-mounted razors protruded from a metal casing that more closely resembled a gauntlet, and it clung tightly to Shin's skin, perfectly form-fitting. Rows of small scythes gnashed like thousands of microscopic jaws along and between the edges of each individual razor, so that a parrying weapon would invariably get stuck between the tines and shredded to pieces. Additionally, the whole contraption vibrated with a frenetic energy as if animate and eager to kill; a mere reflection of its dark master's perversion.

Sasuke suppressed a shudder and forced himself to remain calm. Fighting against such a weapon wouldn't be easy, especially with even more of the smoke beginning to clear with each passing second. Eventually, his enemy would be able to see the piles upon piles of wreckage that were no doubt scattered over every inch of the cavern.

At that point, Sasuke knew he would be forced to use Susanoo'. His only option was to burn through as many Izanagi as he could before that time, while somehow remaining cautious enough not to get prematurely killed. But with each passing second, the momentum of the battle would fall deeper and deeper into Shin's favor.

Of course, if he could hold out long enough, there was a chance that Sakura's re-entrance to the battlefield could turn the tide…but that was assuming she was alive and able to continue fighting.

Sasuke frowned, his stomach curling into knots at that thought.

It was a valid point though, he had to admit. Thinking rationally, the young Uchiha knew that he couldn't count on the Haruno's assistance. And what's more, on top of his other objectives, he'd also need to leave himself enough time to search for the battered woman before she _did_ finally perish regardless.

 _This fight needs to be ended quickly._

And yet there was no room for mistakes. Not even the slightest gap.

The former Leaf-nin gripped the hilt of his sword more tightly. At least he had his chidori: no matter what he did, Shin's own weapon was also made of electricity-conducting metal. With any luck, the would-be Uchiha usurper would be forced into his own level of caution.

"You still don't understand," Shin chastised while shaking his head. "Could it be that you still haven't seen it, even with those eyes?"

Sasuke feigned confidence and did not react to these words. Shin smiled though, having apparently read some ridiculously slight sign of expression with those many eyes of his.

"You really haven't, have you?" he teased again, incredulousness seeping into his voice. "Then pay attention this time, and I will show you why I deserve those eyes more than you, impetuous child!"

Sasuke met Shin's furious charge with a determined one of his own, and their blades clashed with an ear-splitting ring.

* * *

Sakura was falling.

She didn't know why. Or how.

For that matter, the kunoichi didn't really know anything. Just that the world was a veil of inky darkness, and that she was hurt. Badly. Pain assaulted her nerves from every direction like pinpoints of light, and there were hundreds of them, maybe even thousands.

Sakura struggled and tried to fight back, to do anything or move anywhere, but she couldn't. The kunoichi couldn't even see. Her senses seemed…disabled and muted. Weak.

 _Just like you,_ a hostile voice hissed into her ear.

Sakura screamed when she realized it was her own.

* * *

Dizziness overwhelmed her as Sakura sat bolt upright in bed, tossing covers and pillows aside like fans of kunai. Sweat ran down her body in tight rivulets and a hot-cold shiver suffused her skin.

"Oh no," the woman groaned while flopping back onto her mattress.

 _Not *another* nightmare!_

Sakura violently kicked the rest of her covers from the bed as she smashed one palm against her too-wide forehead in a desperate attempt to calm the raging storm of a rapidly-encroaching headache. Closing her eyes tightly, she tried to remember what horrid nighttime vision had afflicted her with such terror and stress, but found that, strangely, she could not.

 _Something_ had clearly happened during the night, and probably multiple times, given the Haruno's eye-drooping tiredness. She evidently hadn't slept well at all, which, in itself, wasn't all that unusual. Waking in a state of groggy sleepiness, half-wishing she could stay in bed all day, but half-terrified at the idea, had been par for the course for her lately.

What _was_ unusual was being unable to recount a basic summary of her dreams. They were almost the same every night, after all: Sasuke dying and never coming home, Sasuke trying to kill her again, dying old and lonely because she was stupid enough to pledge her soul to someone who would never love her back…that sort of thing.

Shrugging, Sakura eventually slogged out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for her shift at the hospital. There was no use in delaying the inevitable. The kunoichi had responsibilities and wouldn't shirk them just because she was feeling like shit.

She felt like shit every day, after all.

And the worst part was…she had grown accustomed to it.

* * *

It felt like so long since Sakura had had a 'normal' life that she barely remembered what it meant not to trudge through one's daily routine in a monotonous blur. Her genin days, training for the chunin exams, fighting in the war against the Akatsuki…that had been interesting, at least. Dynamic. Enough to take her mind off the all-consuming longing that burned in the back of her skull.

But this…peace was pure tedium. A stale, numbing void that left her almost no escape.

Sakura strolled through the streets of Konoha on her way to work, looking at the beauty and vibrant populace of the still-rebuilding Leaf Village without really _seeing_ it. People smiled at her, and Sakura smiled back, careful to show as cheerful and as friendly an expression as ever even though she didn't consciously register doing it. If, later on, someone had asked her who she had passed that day, who had greeted her or stopped to chat, she wouldn't have been able to hazard even a slight guess. Doing all those things had become second nature to her—cold and robotic-, and not something the kunoichi took pride in as she used to.

Shifts at the hospital went by in much the same fashion. She did endless, simple, and boring procedures, usually healing broken bones sustained by chunins whose sparring partners had gotten too enthusiastic, scraped genin knees, and the like. It was more of a drag than even Shikamaru would have complained about, but Sakura bore it with grim stoicism and said nothing.

In fact, she hardly said anything to anyone anymore that wasn't polite banter and brief small talk. When she wasn't attending to patients, Sakura sequestered herself in her office reading or writing medical texts—anything to take her mind off the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach before it swallowed her whole. Free time, for someone like her, was far more of a bane than a blessing, and a dangerous one at that.

When unusual cases did come up, Sakura immediately volunteered for as many of the most difficult ones as the other staff would permit. As such, the woman had acquired a reputation across all of Fire Country for being a mad doctor who would take any case, civilian and shinobi alike, no matter how hopeless or obscure the patient's illness might be. She labored deep into most nights pouring over her patient's medical files and staying late at the hospital to check redundantly on them, fearful of the emptiness that awaited her private hours.

Once, Tsunade had even been forced to physically tear her student away from her desk to prevent her from staying all through the night and into the morning. And on another occasion, Sakura had been threatened with getting fired if she didn't take a day off. Despite her annoyance with the monotony of her job, the kunoichi truly cared about the people she helped. Not to mention it was her only escape and sole purpose in life. Thus, grudgingly, she had obeyed.

It had been the worst week of Sakura's entire life. Though the field of shattered tree trunks she'd left in her wake would have begged to differ.

Sometimes, Naruto, Sai, Ino, Kakashi, or some combination thereof would drop in on her at the hospital for lunch. They'd wear concerned looks and veil their scoldings at her choice to throw herself into her work with vague observations and off-handed comments, though her miserable state of being run ragged was never mentioned directly.

Aside from these little visits, as well as the birthdays and other special occasions she was dragged to, Sakura didn't have much of a social life to speak of. And when she was, people constantly whispered behind her back and shot concerned looks when they thought she couldn't see.

It was understandable, though. Walking around with semi-permanent bags under one's eyes tended to garner that sort of reaction, after all.

 _I worry about Sakura-chan,_ she'd heard Naruto loudly confessing to Shikamaru in the booth behind her at a bar one evening. _I mean, she looks so sad and tired all the time, and she hardly ever goes out._

 _Yeah, I've noticed that too,_ the Nara genius languidly replied. _She looks like she hasn't been eating all that well either. She could take a lesson from Choji's playbook, honestly. That girl is bone-thin._

 _You think it's because of…_ Naruto began.

 _What else could it be?_ Shikamaru answered with what was practically an audible shrug.

At first, such whispered conversations had been the exception rather than the rule. But that was before people stopped trying to directly admonish Sakura for her lack of self-care after she had stubbornly brushed off their noble-but-exhausting intentions too many times. Now 'Haruno Sakura is constantly miserable' was a well-known fact around the village, even to the those she had never even met, much to her chagrin.

And the worst part was, people still liked her. They always had. That was why it only made her closest friends all the more distant towards her. Even Ino, who had been the last holdout in trying to talk Sakura into getting a hold of herself, had eventually given up. Now her best friend in the whole world couldn't even bear to be around her anymore.

She could forgive that. It was painful to watch someone you love slowly poison themselves until they were all but unrecognizable.

Sakura Haruno knew this better than almost anyone.

Over time, the medic-nin had grown accustomed to tuning out the looks and whispers. Intellectually, Sakura could understand their concerns: she would have been the loudest voice protesting someone else's mistreatment of themselves. But she couldn't find it within herself to care. After all, trying to follow their advice was futile: she had already tried. Many times. So, after a while, the hushed tones had simply grown stifling and made her want to punch a hole in a brick wall.

Didn't any of these idiots understand what she was going through?

 _How could they,_ Sakura thought to herself in rare moments of lucidity. _For them, life is great. Ino has Sai, Shikamaru has Temari, even Naruto has Hinata. They don't know what it's like to be hopelessly in love with someone you can't be with._

Sakura caught the eye of many suitors, of course, and had even been on a few dates with men Ino had relentlessly set her up with just to get the pig off her back. Ultimately, nothing became of them, however. She never got asked to a second date, which Sakura could understand. Given her habits, general mood, and superficial pretense of cheerfulness, she did make for a pretty poor companion, the medic-nin had to admit. And it was just as well, anyway: she had absolutely no interest in an endless parade of men that she didn't love.

Not with _his_ face burned into her brain.

 _I must be insane,_ Sakura found herself thinking quite often. _I wish I could just forget him, but I can't. Why, Kami? Oh why…._

That was why, on that particular day of mindlessly walking to yet another shift of self-imposed hard medical labor, Sakura was stopped dead in her tracks.

It was Sasuke. The real, actual Sasuke Uchiha, and not one of her delirious phantasms, standing right there in the middle of the road with his back turned to her.

Sakura's breath hitched in her throat. Her heart began to pound, the blood flow worsening her already delirious and agonized head. She shivered in place for a few seconds, overcome with indecisive shock at the sight before her. Sakura had never expected this and hadn't even considered how she might react if he actually returned to the village someday.

Her first instinct was to sprint over and say hello. If she was lucky, the dour man might just give her the time of day.

Sakura's second and stronger instinct, however, was to clench her fists and stomp her way over to him.

After a moment of internal struggle, the latter instinct won.

"You've got some nerve coming back after all these years, _Sasuke,"_ Sakura spat from several feet behind the Uchiha.

He glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "Tch."

A tense silence.

"That's all you have to say to me?" Sakura barked, leaning in more closely with a fist raised.

"You're annoying. Shut up and leave me alone," Sasuke stated icily.

Sakura gasped for a split second, then ground her teeth. "How dare you?!" she growled while seizing his shoulder with a vice-like grip. "How dare you speak to me that way, you bastard!" She was yelling now and undoubtedly making a scene, but did not care. "After all I've done for you, after all the shit I've put up with? Do you have any idea what things have been like for me around here?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He just smirked at her and flicked one eye at the crowd gathering around them.

Sakura tentatively followed his gaze and saw their varying expressions: fear, mistrust, concern, pity, and more. Each and every one stabbed her like an ice senbon.

"You've done this to me, don't you see?!" the kunoichi screamed, turning back to the Uchiha and shaking him violently. He rag dolled in her grip, apparent aloofness only stoking the fires of her anger. "It's all your fault!"

Sakura had had enough. She'd had enough of waiting and wasting away. It was time to end this.

Calling upon a burst of precisely-controlled chakra, the woman hurled Sasuke in an arc over her head and brought him crashing to the dirt path with a savage crunch. A small impact crater formed beneath his mangled, bloody body.

Sakura's chest heaved as she smiled in satisfaction.

A moment later, it dawned on her what she had just done. Her initial wave of exhilaration was replaced with one of terror, and it washed over her body.

The kunoichi began to sob uncontrollably.

"Sasuke, no. Oh, Kami. I'm so sorry…" she whispered while falling to her knees next to the man's lifeless corpse. He stared back at her with cold, dead obsidian eyes that made her want to run away screaming, yet stopped her even from blinking. It was all Sakura could do to stare into those orbs and face the horrific result of her actions.

"I was wrong. It's not your fault," she corrected while gingerly cradling the back of the Uchiha's limp neck. She wiped some of the blood away, uncaring that it clung to her hands and tainted them with its coppery odor. "I know you had your reasons, it's just that…damn it. The pain Sasuke, you can't imagine it."

"I can't," the corpse suddenly rasped with a morbid, warped smile. Its dead eyes blazed with unholy light, revealing a mouth of jagged, shattered teeth, torn lips, and exposed jawbone. "And neither can you. Your suffering has only just begun."

Paralyzed with utter fear, yet unable to tear her eyes away from the visage of her deceased love, Sakura's mouth moved wordlessly as her heart stopped beating.

Sasuke's corpse only laughed harder at her reaction, and the sound seemed…familiar, somehow. It was a wet, demented laugh, full of evil and depravity. What's more, it belonged to a voice that _enjoyed_ such things, even reveled in them.

Before she could act, Sasuke slowly disintegrated between her fingers and sunk into the earth below. Sakura's teardrops dripped into the sinkhole but were immediately swallowed by a tide of sand.

The medic-nin looked up. The crowd was gone. In fact, all of Konoha seemed eerily devoid of life. And the sky was pitch black, as if starless night had been prematurely summoned by a malevolent force.

Before she could do or say anything, a gigantic eye blinked itself open. The orb was so large that it took up nearly the entirety of the horizon, it's pure void of a center seeming capable of swallowing the whole world.

It quivered, focused on the kunoichi, and that same, rasping laugh returned. It echoed from every direction at once and shook the very foundations of Sakura's soul with reverberating power.

Then, the eye was joined by others… _millions_ of them. They dotted the sky where the stars had once been, as if laying claim to the universe itself. Sakura tried to scream but couldn't. She remembered the dream of falling and prayed to whatever spirit might listen that this was its end.

"Die!"

An instant before a tide of knives cut her to ribbons, Sakura managed to release one word.

"Sasuke!"

* * *

 _Sasuke._

Sakura woke with a start, this singular word ripping through her mind like a tornado.

She immediately tried to re-orient herself amid the dark void but found that she still could not move. Sakura flexed her muscles, but they were compressed so tightly that not even her most intense thrashing could break the hold and grant her an inch.

The invisible force wrapped around her in tight coils, shutting out all light and crushing her body with its insistent pressure. The kunoichi's bones began to protest with audible cracks and pangs of cold fire. Her bloody throat released an indignant and tortured cry, but the sound was muffled. Her head swam with the combined forces of exhaustion and dizziness as she yelled, tasting something foul. It was leathery and greasy and bitter, and it made the woman want to retch.

Whatever the substance was, it clogged her nose with its foulness and clung to her skin, making the overpowering coils feel paradoxically slippery.

A split second later, Sakura heard it.

 _Hissing._ A whole cacophony of it, all around her.

The coils, against all odds, pressed more tightly, their crushing force even less believable now. Then they began to writhe in flowing undulations, and Sakura understood that each length of force, while long and obscenely thick, was _individual:_ one among many, and all working in perfect unison.

She was trapped in a cocoon of living pythons.


	14. Chapter 14

A jolt of adrenaline surged through Sakura's body, a vicious reminder that she needed to escape quickly if she didn't want to suffocate.

Calling upon the force of her will, the kunoichi shoved massive amounts of chakra into her muscles. They convulsed with pulses of nerve-wracking energy, adding spikes of sharp pain to the omnipresent dull aches. Her lungs burned from the strain, and she was unable to take oxygen to sate them. Already, the kunoichi was going lightheaded and beginning to fade from consciousness. Were it not for her still-active hundred healings jutsu, Sakura knew her body would have been far too damaged for any hope of escape.

Forcing herself to remain calm, Sakura steadied her frame and let her mind blank.

Then, she ripped with every ounce of her might.

Berserk fury consumed her mind, and spots of color danced behind her vision to the rhythm of pounding in her head.

Later, the woman would be unable to entirely call what had happened next. It was only by means of the fact that Sakura was able to breathe once again that she deduced her escape from the pythons' grip. With her vision blocked, she took a long, panicked gasp of air.

It was cut sort, though, when the pressure around her chest redoubled suddenly. Still, the momentary breath had been enough to bring her vision and awareness back.

Sakura screwed up her face as she tensed her abdominal muscles, knowing it was the only thing saving her ribcage from being ground to dust. Then she looked down and saw the coils of snakes that still constricted her lower body. Evidently, she had, in her haste, released only one arm from the living cocoon. From its bent position, the scattered bits of snake bodies, and the way her gore-drenched hand hovered in front of her face, the kunoichi surmised what that arm had unconsciously achieved.

"Shannaro!" Sakura cried through grit teeth. The vocalization was muffled, and it sounded less intimidating that it otherwise should have been, but it was enough.

Her free hand clutched at the largest python coiled around her torso and _squeezed._ A hand-sized section of snake was instantly converted into a pink pulp as its owner feebly attempted to spin on the attacker and strike it with a fang. The teeth fell pitifully short as the snake flopped to the floor, bringing Sakura with it, but a pair of their allies managed to land a retaliating blow.

Sakura cursed and ripped her hand away so forcefully that the teeth came with her. The now-toothless reptile spasmed in agony and slackened its grip on the kunoichi, but the damage was already done. With a brief glance, Sakura saw that the back of her palm was turning a shade of purplish-black. Tendrils of the obscene color shot out in pulses, spiderwebbing cracks expanding as the toxin infected her circulatory system with each beat of her rapid heart.

Anyone else would have surely perished. Anyone other than Sakura Haruno, a master of medical ninjutsu and a specialist in the art of poison.

The black tattoos that wove across her skin flared and shifted a shade darker. Green light raced along them like electricity, and faster than the blink of an eye, the necrotizing infection was gone.

There was still more work to be done, however. Sakura's extensive knowledge regarding the chemical compositions of snake venom would be rendered useless if she didn't manage to free herself from their strangling grasp. So, with another barbaric thrust and grunted "Shannaro!" the pink-haired nin continued to claw at the ropes of flesh that entangled her.

It was a difficult fight, but Sakura was ultimately victorious. No matter how strong mundane snakes were, they couldn't hold a candle to the chakra-infused wrath of a sanin-level kunoichi. Within moments, most of them had been mushed to a pulp, ripped in several pieces, and flung against the surrounding walls of the circular stone tunnel.

Her success came at a steep price. The moment the reptiles had noticed the momentum swinging in their prey's favor, they had loosened their grip and swiveled, turning their fangs upon her in their death throes. Dozens of bites scattered Sakura's flesh now, putrid marks spreading in unison. Some were quickly extinguished by the power of her jutsu, but other splotches had grown far too large and could only be _contained_ by her healing power.

The kunoichi stood, her legs threatening to give out. They felt like pudding, but she forced them into submission. They buckled once, then went still, only to be shaken by a slight, intermittent trembling.

They would hold for the moment, Sakura decided, but not for much longer than that.

And then a more fearful thought ran through her: if their fate boded so poorly, then what would become of her jutsu? Without it, the python toxin would quickly spread to her heart and stop it.

 _I need to find Sasuke,_ she thought. _He can loan me some chakra…if he's still alive, that is._

Sakura's stomach turned more surely at that last thought than the layers of blood and gore drenching her body ever could have. Shoving aside the pain, fear, frustration, exhaustion, and disgust, she was able to narrow her mind to a singular goal: find Sasuke.

It was a task easier said than done. The kunoichi was standing in a narrow, ovoid chamber whose walls were interspersed with dozens of snake holes. Twenty or so meters above her, a crumbling hole led to the larger chamber above. Smoke all but entirely obscured her vision of it, but Sakura could hear faint sounds of rushing footsteps and the clang of metal on metal.

The fight was still on.

A smile broke on Sakura's face, and she felt her spirits lifting. Then she frowned, disappointed in herself for doubting her companion's skill.

With a few wobbly steps, the kunoichi attempted ascend the rough tunnel she had dug with a combination of her own might and earth-style jutsu. While the technique, in combination with her regeneration, had clearly proved effective in surviving Shin's apocalypse shuriken, it seemed that the woman had unintentionally breached a snake den.

Her foot hesitated for a split second before touching the vertical tunnel's edge. Something just didn't add up.

If the territorial snakes were so hostile to humans and had been just below their feet the whole time, why hadn't they emerged earlier? Shin seemed comfortable enough in the stone domicile, and based on the oil traps he had set, it seemed as if he had stayed there for quite some time. Moreover, the snake holes also dotted the room above, lending them easy access.

These facts seemed to imply that Shin had made friends with the reptiles in some fashion, a theory that also explained why the beasts had waited for his shuriken to go off before coming out of hiding.

 _They're coordinating,_ Sakura thought. _They saw an excellent chance to strike and they took it. Immediately. And they were already positioned perfectly to do so._

That left only one possibility: someone other than Shin was summoning the snakes. Someone cunning and mobile and intelligent…and most likely possessing snake-like qualities of their own, given the terrain.

 _Could it be…Oorochimaru all along?_ Sakura thought in a moment of dawning realization.

As if on cue, puffs of smoke and uncanny popping sounds filled the ovoid chamber. Sakura leapt back, thanking the spirits that she had risked wasting precious seconds by hesitating at the wall. Had she not, the summoning would have gone off directly in front of her face, and while she was in a vulnerable position to boot.

The kunoichi hit the ground in a crouch and slid back to the center of the den, her fists raised. A pair of kunai appeared in her hands, and the female jonin twirled them in anticipation.

The snakes came, and there weren't dozens of them. Or even a hundred.

They were thousands.

Granted, these variants were practically microscopic in comparison to their mutilated brethren, but based on their identical color and scale patterns, Sakura deduced they must have been the same species. That meant their poison was still a significant factor, and with this many of them, it would be nigh-impossible for her to stop all the bites. Getting trapped by another cocoon would mean certain death. How could she smash or crush that which she couldn't touch? It would have been as futile as slapping a swarm of angry bees.

An albino sea of reptile poured into the chamber from the multitude of dark holes, individual snakes leaping at her, droplets of water in a spraying storm.

Sakura's spinning kunai met them one at a time, her body contorting acrobatically as the weapons shredded the oncoming snakes. Pink mist filled the air and the raw stink of reptilian gore tore at her nostrils. The kunoichi had never come closer to gagging during one of her fights, but the vomit reflex was irrelevant now. Beads of sweat were rolling down her skin, mingling with her war paint of snake blood as she concentrated on the defending against the overwhelming tide.

As more and more of the tiny reptiles made it past her defenses, scoring a bite here and a bite there, Sakura began to weaken. The kunoichi knew that she was running out of steam and couldn't keep up the dance much longer, especially with the piles of oncoming snake reaching critical mass. Soon there would hardly be any room to dodge without stepping on a carpet of the angry little beasts.

Yes, she could have collapsed the room with a quakefist, but such a tactic would only serve to harm her as well, not to mention very likely bury the woman under a ton of earth.

Yet to stay was also futile.

As much as Sakura hated to admit it, she had once chance.

"Sasuke!" she roared at the top of her lungs.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha almost jumped. Hearing his name yelled with such desperation would have usually been cause for supreme annoyance, but coming from _her,_ especially in this context,it filled him with supreme panic. Still, the shinobi was galled by how indescribably elated he was at her apparent survival.

Though, if her cry was any indication, that state would not persist for long.

"Go to her, Sasuke," Shin taunted as he sidestepped a katana strike and lashed with his katar. "Your wench needs you. She's dying as you insist on continuing to spit in the face of a god."

Sasuke grit his teeth and slapped away the claw-like weapon, sending a jolt of chidori through it as he did so.

Shin reacted quickly, jerking the katar away before the lightning could do any serious harm to him. He had learned from his prior mistake and refused to overcommit on his attacks during the intervening time he and Sasuke had dueled, thus enabling him to avoid getting shocked without wasting too much energy. Of course, such a strategy seriously reduced the man's offensive power, but then again, it was Sasuke who had a ticking time bomb hanging over his head.

Sasuke took several rapid steps backwards, buying himself time as Shin repositioned. He was sure his analysis of the Uchiha abomination's tactics had been correct, but something still didn't make sense. There was only one person in the entire world with greater command of the chidori than Sasuke's own, and he was certain that not even non-committal strikes could account for Shin's ability to outpace lightning. It was a scientific fact: lighting was _fast_ , and not even the quickest shinobi should be able to dodge direct contact with it so perfectly.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke used even more chakra to scan Shin once more.

It was flash, so brief that even with his superior vision, Sasuke almost missed it.

There was a blue, human-shaped chakra aura leaping through the air alongside Shin. Its hands were braced against the edges of the katar, parallel to Shin's own, and were helping him withdraw it.

 _So that's how he does it,_ Sasuke mused to himself. _He's summoning spirits to guide his movements…that's how he's keeping pace with me. No one else should be able to, but he can, because of those strange sharingan._

A glimpse of memory flashed through Sasuke's mind. Once more he saw the iron spike flying towards him, and the humanoid aura that clutched it in a stabbing motion.

"You look puzzled, Sasuke," Shin teased with a wet hiss. Blood trickled from his mouth, creating red streaks on his chin and torso, evidence that, like Sasuke, he had sustained scores of minor wounds throughout their fight.

Sasuke wiped away some of his own mouth blood and marveled at its testament to Shin's skill. Few had even come close to putting him in such a state, and Naruto had been the only person to do it regularly.

"Your inferior, traitorous brain working too hard?" Shin continued. He took a step forward and licked a line of Sasuke's blood from one of his blades. Then false Uchiha moaned orgasmically and looked up at Sasuke with half-lidded eyes. "The suffering of a bastard child is so delicious, isn't it? Here, let me help free your thoughts from that pitiful skull of yours."

Sasuke grunted, outwardly displaying no reaction to the man's threats and grisly suggestions. "I know how you're doing it."

Shin came at Sasuke in a blurry curve, swept passed him, and pulled his arcing katar away from the chidori blade at the last second. As he did, Sasuke saw it clearly again: a pair of supporting spirits this time. They curved around Shin's body, incorporeal torsos emerging from his back and reaching out with wispy tendrils of arms to lend strength to Shin's movements.

Most horrific of all, though, was the tortured looks on those beings' distorted faces. Sasuke was sure they would haunt his nightmares for years to come. Their visages reflected sheer agony, unreasoning and unceasing torment, souls who were twisted and controlled and contained in the shell of an evil perversion, forced to shirk their peace in the afterlife in favor of unthinkably cruel servitude.

Sasuke shivered. Even the most violent and foul experiences failed to rouse any emotional response in him after living through the hell of his clan's demise. The fact that Shin's servants had affected him so was a demonstration of the inherent wrongness in it.

Right then and there, Sasuke decided that Shin would die, even if he had to make the whole world burn to do it, if he had to not only give up his own life, but even Sakura's or Naruto's. His years of enlightenment, contemplation, and atonement would be for naught if he permitted Shin to continue shackling innocent souls to his will.

Sasuke gripped his sword so hard that it rattled in his grasp. He was sick to death of the cruel shinobi world's victimization.

"No…more…" Sasuke spat.

Shin came in for another swipe and Sasuke held him off.

"Speak up, doomed lamb; I can't hear you!" Shin wailed maniacally.

"NO MORE!" Sasuke half-screamed, half-growled. "You can't do this, Shin. I won't let you."

The albino experiment showed his toothless gums. "I can, and you will," he shot back coldly, all hint of sadistic glee absent in his tone for once. He spoke evenly and sternly, as if his words were law itself.

And Sasuke supposed that, for him, they were.

He opened his mouth to speak, but another sudden cry cut him off.

"Sasuke!"

This time it was more desperate. Weaker and more agonized. Pleading.

Shin's main eye flashed with sudden inspiration.

"I could conjure up your mother or father right now," he went on. "I could make Fugaku Uchiha watch as I rip my blades through his son's innards, or Mikoto guide my hand passionately as I saw his Achilles tendons. I could make your whole clan flay the skin from your bones and pluck out your organs. After all, I've had them do it before…

"…to each other."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. The sharingan flashed a shade of crimson so dark and foreboding it was almost black, and his rinnegan radiated purple luminescence.

"Shut your fucking worthless mouth," Sasuke barked. His katana was rattling in his grasp again, the intensity of his strained muscles causing his cuts to weep more fiercely. His teeth ground together so strongly that their creaking cut over the lingering echoes of swordplay. An intense heat radiated from his skin, so hot it threatened to singe Shin's flesh. Lightning danced unbidden across his sword, up and down his arms, and in his eyes.

Shin's face contorted with awe as if he were a child receiving his first birthday present. "Oh, is that a sore spot for you Sasuke- _kun?_ I'm sorry I've gone and gotten you so upset. And to think, I didn't even need to tell you just how talented that mother of yours is with her mouth. And I don't mean just the carnal delights either, you should hear how deliciously she screams when…"

The next thing Shin knew, a shadowy afterimage of Sasuke was already passing him. He swung his katar in vain, far too late for any hope of landing a blow.

Unbelievable pain wracked his body as a red gash materialized on his torso, bisecting another one of the unused eyes. Shin stumbled, his lips burbling with blood as the gash expanded into a wave of crimson blood and yellowish eye fluids.

Then, after a long moment of silent denial, he fell. Hard.

He blinked and saw Sasuke's crazed face hovering above. The world spun, but Shin could clearly see the outline of the other Uchiha's expression, nearly as perverse in that moment as one of his own.

The abomination tried to raise his katar, but found it held down by the seemingly infinite weight of Sasuke's foot. He struggled vainly for a few seconds, then gave up with a sigh.

"Finally, you've embraced what it means to be a true Uchiha," Shin spat, blood turning his words into a nearly-incoherent slur. "Now you see that…"

Sasuke didn't let the man finish. With one smooth motion of his katana, he opened Shin's throat…all the way down to the bone.

Shin's eyes rolled into his severed head, jerked once, then went dull.

But even in his moment of bestial rage, Sasuke could not completely dispel his cold pragmatism.

There was a red flash of a sharingan, and Shin's body shimmered and dissipated into a field of shadows. Then he re-appeared, one more eye missing all but its sclera, and stabbed at his would-be killer from behind.

But Sasuke had already begun his defensive maneuver and met Shin's stab with a swipe of his own.

"Each death will only get more and more painful," Sasuke spat, coating Shin's face in his own blood.

"Sasuke!" a feminine voice called up through the nearby tunnel once again.

Shin licked his lips. "And the next will belong to her," he stated reasonably.

Sasuke ground his blade more forcefully against Shin's, heedless of the fact that it was being nicked to all hell and that he had forgotten to use chidori. He was nothing but a mindless animal now, unable to do anything but move his body with brute strength and frantic speed.

He pushed back against Shin, and the man began to lose ground.

The latter spun away and tried to use the spirits to help him escape Sasuke's clutches, but his opponent seemed possessed of impossible speed. Each time Shin faced a new direction, Sasuke was already there, batting at his katar so strongly that both weapons dented. The albino's arms grew numb and liquified from the sheer force of the concussive shocks. The sensations quickly became so painful that even he began to groan in pain.

Sasuke advanced, refusing to give Shin an inch. Within seconds, he had pressed him against a wide column and pinned the katar to his own body. It was all Shin could do to hold back the final blow, yet he knew that his strength would be the first to give.

The peal of shredding metal filled the air.

"Take it back," Sasuke demanded.

"What?" Shin gasped incredulously, sweating. He had more Izanagi to burn, but at this rate, that statement wouldn't be true for long.

"Take it back. Beg for forgiveness," Sasuke commanded with unfaltering conviction. "Beg for mercy, beg for penance, and I'll consider inflicting only half the misery you've done to others."

Shin gulped. Ordinarily he would have laughed at the tears that poured from Sasuke's face, the savage anger that trembled in his skin and bore into him from behind his cold eyes. But the plan had backfired…badly. Instead of making Sasuke sloppier, his uncontained wrath only made him more formidable. He must have been holding this outpouring of emotion at bay for years…his entire life, even.

Sure, Sakura was doomed to die, but stalling Sasuke from saving her in this way would hardly matter if he got himself killed for it.

"Sasuke- _kun…_ " Shin whispered from inches away, his breathy voice a mockery of intimacy. "You know she loves you, right?"

Sasuke's eyes went wide.

* * *

 _Sasuke-kun. I love you._

The words seemed to ricochet off the inside of Sasuke's skull, louder than even the intense grinding of his katana against Shin's claws. A silent image of Sakura's tortured-yet-relieved face mouthing the words appeared before his eyes. It was preserved in perfect detail, a permanent reminder of his greatest failure that he would be forced to carry with him for the rest of his days.

As the initial heartbeat of shock passed, Sasuke's first reaction was to snarl like a rabid animal and steadily begin increasing the pressure of his katana. The Uchiha saw Shin began to sweat profusely and squirm with nervous panic. It was an immensely satisfying sight, and he had to stop himself from laughing in satisfaction. The expression on Shin's face as he slowly thrust his steel into the man's belly and made him spasm agonized death throes promised to be a delicious one.

What gave that slimy bastard the right to bring up such a thing?! Sakura's feelings were private: hers to know and his to endure. Just hearing her name on Shin's lips made him want to string out the man's painful death over a span of years, which was to say nothing of how deeply his other comments had infuriated Sasuke.

Images of the Uchiha's dead clan flashed before his eyes. In the span of an instant, he saw a macabre slideshow of every one of their horrifying deaths, recalled in perfect detail not by the strength of his sharingan, but by the repetition through which he witnessed them every time the man closed his eyes.

Sasuke gripped his sword so tightly that his own fingernails began to dig deeply into his palm, drawing thick lines of blood, and a dull ache began to creep up his remaining arm.

 _Mother. Father._

Sasuke didn't know if what Shin had implied about his parents was true, but the possibility seemed likely, given what he had concluded earlier about Shin's powers. If he had wanted Shin dead before, now he wanted his soul annihilated, every scrap of evidence that he had ever existed utterly expunged, and anyone who even dared mention him stabbed to death.

And after that, Sasuke didn't know if he would ever stop. He was instantly taken back to the early days of his life as a ninja, when he'd frequently fantasized about making the world drown in blood until it was forced to acknowledge the depth of his pain. And even then, it would never be enough, Sasuke knew. A universe painted red could not match the injustice that he felt.

At the time, he couldn't have imagined anything more terrible than living with the memories…the nightmare-inducing tableaus of death, the loneliness and isolation. A younger Sasuke had thrown himself into his training, fearless of injury or death. It was how he had achieved his great skill with blade and jutsu.

After all, what worse fate could the universe possibly throw at him?

 _It seems that now I have my answer._

More images appeared to Sasuke's mind, and he lost his connection to reality. He saw his mother's conjured soul being raped and tortured by the man that now writhed under the force of his blade, of his beloved family being forced to engage in depraved acts of violence upon one another, and much, much more. Every one was a jolt of power that filled Sasuke with the addictive strength of rage. Tears began to fall from his face, too, but he only wondered distantly why his face was suddenly soaking wet.

"No, you can't…please! Stop!" a harsh, unseen voice pleaded from beneath him.

But Sasuke's world was already a blur, and he pressed on without comprehending the words or their significance.

Then a voice spoke something that did reach him.

It was feminine and panicked, where it should have been strong and resolute, and it rang like music, even in its warped state.

Sasuke's heart leapt. Whoever the speaker was, she was in danger, and Sasuke knew that he was supposed to feel terrified about the fact. He always had, and always would be, though he couldn't-and had never been able to-explain the exact reason why. At times, he had even lied to himself about how much the owner of that voice mattered to him, tried to disguise his feelings with an indifference so deluded he had only recently unraveled his own self-deception.

The stills of dead Uchiha returned, only this time, they were all replaced by the corpses of beautiful, pink-haired kunoichi dressed in red.

A strange sense of lucidity overwhelmed Sasuke when he realized that seeing this person lying dead before him was far more traumatic than those she had replaced. It was an injustice no smaller in scope than the one that had been perpetrated against his family…except that this time, Sasuke knew that he would be the one to cause it.

Vision returned, and Sasuke grew rational enough to see Shin below him once again. His hallucinations had evidently passed in the span of mere seconds, and Sasuke frowned down at his opponent.

"No…" he whispered. The words tasted alien, as if he weren't really the one speaking them. "No…I won't...sink...to your level."

 _How can I condemn you, and the unfairness of the world, for the crimes against my family,_ Sasuke questioned himself, _if I do the same to her?_

The next thing Sasuke knew, Shin was no longer in front of him. A smoke-filled stone cavern was blurring past him instead as a deep, cylindrical hole in the ground approached.

He skidded to a halt and peered down into the tunnel.

And what he saw froze Sasuke in his tracks.

* * *

Sakura heard the sound of approaching feet and looked up. Her spirits soared with relief when she saw Sasuke finally standing at the rim of the vertical tunnel, even as several more snakebites dragged her closer to numbed unconsciousness.

"Sakura!" the kunoichi heard Sasuke scream, his voice oddly expressive for once.

She tried to move her lips to respond, but no sound came out. The woman sagged as she slashed futilely at one lashing snake with a kunai.

A dozen more were slithering their way up her body at that moment, biting as they went. Her veins were literally flooded with toxin, and Sakura was far too weak to do anything about it. Her healing had run dry, leaving her chakra depleted and unable to continue fighting. A weak twitch of her limbs was the best attempt she could manage to throw the reptiles off.

Not that it mattered. A sea of hundreds more were closing in on her feet from inches away. Soon, Sakura would be dragged beneath the tide of painful bites and cold venom.

She let her eyelids flicker closed. Sasuke was too late. There was no fight left in her.

Heat washed over her as the darkness closed in, and it took Sakura a minute to realize that it wasn't the warm embrace of the afterlife.

It was a fireball jutsu.

Roaring orange flame filled the cavern, instantly incinerating the snakes with a series of sickening crackles and hisses. They burned Sakura too, but she managed to roll into a ball and take meager cover against the fire. As usual, the pain was unbearable and was followed by the scent of her own charred flesh.

But as much as she wanted to hate Sasuke for causing her so much pain, Sakura had to admit that the fireball proved effective in saving her life. The swarm of reptiles was now nothing more than a pile of foul-smelling corpses and acrid smoke, after all, while she yet lived—though not for long, since the poison still pumped determinedly through her body. Had she any healing ability left, Sakura would have countered the substance by converting it into harmless proteins.

There was a swishing sound, and the kunoichi suddenly felt a reassuring presence crouched next to her.

"Sas...Sasuke?" she managed to choke through blackened lips.

"I'm here," Sasuke stated gently. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to hurt you again." His voice sounded genuinely regretful.

Sakura barely had time for confusion as a sharp stabbing sensation appeared in the meat of her upper right arm. At first it seemed to jolt her with adrenaline, but as the seconds passed, it became clear that she was fading away even more quickly now.

No, it was not the embrace of death, Sakura realized with a euphoric start.

It was the comforting rush of chakra infusion.

With hope surging, the kunoichi reached out for the strands of energy entering her body. If only she could grasp them, gather enough focus to channel that energy into her healing techniques...then maybe there was a chance of survival.

"Come on, Sakura. Please. You can't die," Sasuke begged from behind the wall of muffled darkness surrounding her. He sounded like a completely different person, but Sakura knew he was sincere.

Using those pleas as a beacon, Sakura harnessed what energy she could and reactivated her hundred healings.

Moments later, she rolled onto her back and tried to sit up. The smell of burning skin and the throb of necrotic toxin was gone, and all that remained as evidence of her wounds was a lingering itch.

Sakura blinked. Things were still hazy, but she was coherent once more. "Sasuke?" the woman asked as she searched dizzily for him.

"I'm here," the Uchiha answered, his face appearing in front of her. She had never been more relieved to see it.

"Thank you." Sakura didn't know what else to say, and it seemed underwhelming for the situation, but she didn't care. "I'm...I thought you might be...where's Shin?"

Sasuke started to answer, but his sixth senses must have told him something, because he looked up sharply.

Sakura followed the man's line of vision. The eye-covered Uchiha stood at the rim of the tunnel's summit, a cluster of floating metal shards hovering around him.

Sasuke was on his feet in an instant, and the kunoichi found herself following...painfully. The chakra infusion had given her body enough power to keep moving, but after spending so much on healing, the woman doubted she could fight.

A dull ache throbbed in her arm once again, and Sakura examined it with a flash of her eyes. A sharp, short black length of Sasuke's chakra rod was embedded in her flesh.

The kunoichi moved to rip it from her arm in preparation for battle, but Sasuke stopped her with a hand. Then he gripped the piece once more and began to force more chakra into it.

Sakura looked at him, aghast. "Sasuke, don't!" she protested with a whisper. "You won't have enough energy left for..."

"I _do_ ," Sasuke breathed between his heavy pants. "I have to. You have to be able to move, Sakura."

The pinkette frowned at the Uchiha, then faced Shin once more. Without fine-tuned chakra control like hers, Sasuke would be spending far more energy than she would be able to receive. The rods, as far as she could tell, were indeed made to transmit the user's chakra...just not to other living people. And certainly not in these quantities. To say that attempting it was inefficient was a colossal understatement.

But she thought he knew that. And besides, there was no point in continuing to argue while their enemy was poised to strike.

"How cute," Shin taunted from above, his words echoing down. Then he shook his head disdainfully. "Foolish to give of yourself like that, Sasuke, when you'll need that strength to finish this."

Sasuke glared up at the pale man from between his bangs but did not reply. Instead, he whispered underneath his breath at Sakura: "Do you have enough for it yet?"

Sakura flexed a fist and experimentally shunted chakra into it. She answered with a confident nod.

Shin, completely unaware of this interaction, shrugged. "Fine. It makes no difference to me. Divide your power. It will only make it easier for me to destroy you."

With a whistling slash, the blades descended.

Sakura pivoted and aimed a punch at Sasuke's sternum.

There was a purple flash and the chiming sound of space-time energy suddenly dispersing, and the kunoichi's hand collided solidify with bone.

It wasn't Sasuke's.

It was Shin's.

A thundering crack reverberated through the snake den, and a mass of mangled albino flesh splattered against the uneven wall.

Sakura wrung out her fist with a groan. Newton's third law was a bitch, and even with shinobi conditioning, hitting people that hard _hurt._ Still, the kunoichi found herself smirking and placing a hand victoriously on her hip.

"Who's the idiot now?"

As if in answer, Shin's corpse fluttered into a mass of shadows and disappeared. Sakura looked up and saw a retroactive Shin fighting Sasuke once more. Sakura leaped out of the tunnel with an earth-shattering kick, and landed right next to him.

Shin spun away, gathering a cluster of mismatched, broken weapons around his body in a twirling arc of steel as he did so. Yet another sharingan's light had been extinguished, leaving him with only a handful. His weapon control was clearly diminishing, as evidenced by the flying scraps of metal that wavered tentatively and sagged in midair. The main, natural eye pulsed now and was bloodshot with intense concentration.

"Heh, I forgot about that special _rinngean,_ " Shin said, practically spitting the final word. "That eye of yours, which should belong _to me!"_

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Then come and take it," he challenged, his sword pointing straight at the man's heart.

Shin released a feral growl of flying spittle and blood, then charged.

Yet despite his bravado, it was clear that the tables had turned. The abomination was on the ropes now, and Sakura was back in the fight.

 _Time for payback,_ Inner Sakura cheered.

"Shannaro!"


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Notes: Apologies for the long break. I was having a lot of trouble getting motivated to work because I thought I had things figured out, but it turned out that I really didn't. And then then holidays came, so, yeah. I'd say that this time I'll update faster, but I don't want to end up lying.**

 **Fair warning. This is a short update, and I'm doing that for a reason. I needed to close out the action in a dramatic way, but I'm also transitioning (finally) into a more emotional/story-driven scene. Things will change after this chapter (you'll see what I mean), so I thought that having a breather might improve the pacing.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

 **[Also, since I don't think I've done this: I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke would have had a satisfying redemption arc.] **

* * *

A series of grey blurs streaked towards her, but Sakura was ready. Her muscles flexed with Sasuke's donated energy as she mentally calculated the arcs of her defensive parries and maneuvers. Then, she charged.

And was abruptly stopped by the sudden appearance of a wall of flaming purple energy. Shin's shrapnel impacted it roughly from the opposite side. Cracks rippled along the construct's form but were nearly instantly repaired.

It was only after a dizzying moment of confusion that Sakura understood. _Susanoo'._

There was a sharp, wheezing gasp. Sakura saw Shin recoiling with in an impotent rage through the purple barrier.

"No…it's not possible," Shin said breathlessly, his remaining eyes wavering back and forth in a blank stare of sheer horror. "I…you were…"

Sakura smirked. It wasn't often that she took pride in seeing her opponents brought low, but the kunoichi figured she could make an exception for Shin.

"You shouldn't be able to…it's not…but you gave your chakra to her," he protested, voicing Sakura's own doubts.

The medic-nin in Sakura made her wheel towards Sasuke. The Uchiha's body twitched with visible effort as he struggled to maintain the spirit guardian with his low chakra reserves. Even worse, blood was beginning to leak from both eyes.

She titled her head questioningly, but Sasuke ignored her with a cold demeanor of reckless confidence. He quivered slightly as the Susanoo raised its arms and drew back the massive war bow that materialized from nowhere. It was half-formed, and armor plating was curiously absent in seemingly random patches, revealing the bare bones and knitted muscle tissue of the frame beneath. The doujutsu wasn't complete, but it was fully formed enough for Shin's attacks to be rendered meaningless.

A black tip of churning Amaterasu appeared at the tip of the arrow.

"It's not fair," Shin whined, "I am the true—"

There was a rush of air and the tainted smell of Amaterasu's demon flame. Shin convulsed once, then stared down at the gore-dripping hole that had appeared in his torso. He began screaming as black fire consumed his body from the inside, peeling away his existence with unnerving efficiency and leaving only ash behind.

Seconds before the edge of ebon fire licked at one of the active sharingan, it flashed with pale crimson light. Shin's body become incorporeal, extinguishing the Amaterasu. He reappeared a heartbeat later, already sprinting away.

Sasuke's construct calmly loosed another black arrow at point blank range, but this time Shin had collected himself enough to dodge. He somersaulted sideways through the air in a twisting motion, perched on a nearby pillar and kicked off. He jumped agilely back and forth between several more salt-crystal protrusions. Each time he only managed to lift off seconds before his perch was obliterated by a flying black arrow.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted.

The kunoichi charged again, and this time the walls of the Susanoo' parted around her like flaps of flesh, permitting her to leave their safety. As she went, Sakura grabbed a fallen chunk of salt crystal and flung it directly at Shin's next landing spot.

"Hrm?" Shin mumbled, barely seeing the projectile coming through the cloud of white debris powder. Then with a groan of surprise, he kicked off early and swung towards the next safe spot.

Which was exactly what Sasuke had planned for. He raised his purple bow, aimed at the flying Shin midair, and released another shot.

Shin panicked but was unable to change trajectory. He watched helplessly as another death came sailing at him from across the cavern. Predictably, a sharingan flashed, and he re-appeared a short distance away.

Sakura already had another boulder in hand.

Shin's eyes scanned the scene, flitting back and forth between Sasuke's bow and the Sakura-catapult.

He laughed. Maniacally. It was a spine-tingling sound, eerily rebounding from the walls of the cavern. The last laugh of a sociopath resigned to his fate.

Then he began to sprint directly at Sasuke, his limbs pumping with unbelievable intensity. His eyes bulged and were bloodshot. Sweat broke on his frighteningly alabaster skin. He cleared half the space in an instant, swerving from a barrage of Sasuke's arrows and Sakura's rocks.

"DIE! DIE!" the suicidal Uchiha roared.

Sasuke willed his bow to remold itself. Then he took several steps back, raised the katana carefully, and slashed.

The strike should have felled him, but Shin thrust out his arm at the last second. A nearby chain wrapped around a sharp piece of metal and then flung itself at Sasuke's guardian with enough force to embed inside the construct's ribcage. Shin's arm flexed and, with a dizzying blur, he yanked. Hard.

Before either of them could react, Shin had pulled himself flush with the section of Susanoo' directly in front of Sasuke's real body. The sword stroke had missed completely.

There was a moment of tense silence as the Uchihas stared one another down.

Shin broke it first.

"This is the end, Sasuke."

His hands blurred in a summoning seal, and Sakura could tell that Shin had used the last of his strength. Smoke curled around him, then dispersed, revealing rows upon rows of paper bombs covering every inch of his body.

They began to catch fire.

He was a living bomb.

Sakura kicked. It was by far the most powerful she'd ever performed, causing what seemed to be miniature earthquakes all around the enclosure as she propelled herself through the air.

Everything seemed to pass in slow motion. Sasuke stood, dumbfounded, the wheels of his brain spinning as he tried desperately to think of an escape. Shin's lips curled in a smile, and low, warbling ripples of the impending concussion blast could be heard.

She had once chance to save Sasuke.

Sakura let her body collide with Shin's, then struck his chest open-palm style. The man, and the burgeoning explosion that surrounded him, flew backwards.

And so did Sakura.

A chain wrapped around her waist, and Shin tugged a final time. Before she knew it, Sakura had been grappled in a literal death hug by the abomination, his limbs straining so hard that if he lived, his bones would surely break from the exertion.

There wasn't time for words, nor even a backward glance at Sasuke. All Sakura could do was stare into haunting void of Shin's eye. It seemed to taunt her, and the kunoichi could well imagine his thoughts.

 _If the blood traitor won't die, then I shall deal him a far worse deathblow by taking you with me._

"NO!" Sakura snarled, covering Shin's putrid face with spittle.

With a burst of tendon-ripping force, Sakura brutally forced her hand between Shin's body and herself. Then, with her other hand, she gripped the chain and broke it with a sudden squeeze. Sharp bits of metal invaded her skin, but Sakura ignored them and shoved once again.

She was sent sailing backwards at the same time Shin's velocity doubled, and hoped it would be enough to escape the blast.

It wasn't. Orange fire and bone-shattering kinetic energy battered her.

* * *

"Sakura!" Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs before he knew what he was doing. His chest burned and his voice broke pathetically halfway through. Ordinarily, Sasuke would have felt humiliated at his outburst of emotion, but at the moment, he simply couldn't bring himself to care.

He deactivated the Susanoo' and leapt after her.

Sakura's limp form came flying out of the blast radius, and Sasuke braced her as best he could with his meagerly singular arm.

There was a sharp thud, followed by a stinging pain in his knees as he and Sakura collapsed to them in a slumped position. He caught her from falling, but just barely.

"Sakura? Sakura!" Sasuke heard his own voice at high volume, and wasn't sure if the name was a plead or an irate admonishment.

An immense sigh that dripped with more emotion Sasuke managed in most years escaped his chest. His fingers had found her pulse, and it beat semi-steadily. She was alive.

"Kami, Sakura. You didn't need-"

The kunoichi stirred, eyelids fluttering, and smiled lightly.

"I disagree."

Relief flooded Sasuke. He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. Up until now, it had always been him saving her. Sure, she'd pulled him out of the fire he'd created for himself with that stone Otsutsuki construct, but it hadn't exactly been suicidal for her to do so.

What did she owe him? How was this fair? Even his decision to take a sword stroke for her when they'd reunited all those weeks ago (and how it felt like a lifetime instead) had been carefully calculated. Not spontaneous and genuine.

Was this fate, in the cruel shinobi world? Were things always meant to come so annoyingly, so beautifully, so frighteningly full circle in an endless cycle of pain and bloodshed and undeserved sacrifice?

"I hate you," Sasuke muttered, but there was no life in his tone. It was painfully obvious to the both of them that he lacked even the barest hint of conviction.

No reply. Sakura just let Sasuke hold her burned body as she began running her glowing palms over the worst areas. The damage had been light: second-degree at most, and it did not take her long to get herself moving again.

Shin had clearly taken the brunt of the explosion, Sasuke noted. Between that and the double-shove, he had been nearly plastered against the far wall of the cavern, which was now covered in spiderwebbed cracks. At some point, his body had flopped to the floor like a failed sticky toy.

Sasuke examined the body, noting the life signs and chakra activity, then deactivated his kekkei genkai. His chakra was running on fumes, and it was time to end this.

"Can you move?"

Sakura nodded and broke the embrace, which Sasuke hadn't even been aware of. He waved pink strands of hair from his fingers, brandished his sword, and began to advance upon Shin's defeated body.

"You can't do it anymore, Shin," Sasuke taunted calmly. "You lose."

He made it halfway.

A sudden blur of dark brown sailed past him. A cold chill ran down Sasuke spine and fear lanced his heart. He recoiled, waved his sword defensively, and prepared to assess the newcomer.

That's when it hit him.

 _The Mastermind. Shin's accomplice. He's been here all along._

There was a rush of pink and red, and Sakura was suddenly standing next to him in a battle stance. The duo shared a brief look of uncertainty. If they tried to fight seriously any longer in their state, they were as good as dead, and they knew it.

The enigmatic figure kneeled over Shin and withdrew a long syringe filled with a clear chemical substance from his heavy robes. He clucked his tongue while injecting the needle into Shin's neck and pressed the stopper.

Sasuke grit his teeth. Shin was _his_ kill, by vow. By honor.

But the opposing uchiha didn't die. As the substance was slowly injected to his veins, he quivered once, then fell into a relaxed coma.

Sedatives? Why? Sasuke searched the image of the strange figure for clues, but saw none. His form was dark and obscured. Potentially anyone...or any _thing_.

The figure discarded the syringe and held his hands over Shin's body. Scaly white hands. The hands of a snake.

"Oorochimaru!" Sakura barked. "I don't know how you eluded Anbu supervision, but I will not let you reclaim this...monstrous experiment."

There was a low chuckle, and the green light of medical ninjutsu appeared around the figure's hands. Shin's grevious wounds were expertly mended, flesh un-burning, broken bones re-molding with sharp cracks, and flesh binding with papery crackles. Within moments, the wounds were merely downgraded from 'laughably hopeless prognosis' to 'you're going to be in bed for a week'.

Sakura lunged, but Sasuke blocked her with his sword. "No," he warned her sharply.

The kunoichi glared at him and flexed a fist. "He's a monster, Sasuke! He killed the third hokage! I thought we agreed-"

"I know," Sasuke acknowledged with a nod, never once taking his eyes from the figure's back. "The snake sannin didn't use medical ninjutsu."

Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion. "What? Then who…" she trailed off, realization dawning.

The figure stood up straight, it's movements perfectly fluid and deadly.

"That's because the old, weak fool had someone to do it for him," the figure's voice spoke ominously. Then it broke into a laugh, arrogant and beautiful and cruel and altogether too snake-like, leather rubbing against sharp rocks. "Someone far stronger, someone destined for much greater things. Someone with conviction, someone who sees the truth of this world. Someone _like you._

"Honestly," the man mused, his tone wistful. "I'm shocked you didn't figure it out sooner, Sasuke."

And then he turned around and gently pulled back his hood.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, but Sasuke only narrowed his to sharp points of aggression.

"Just like before, I'm pulling all the strings from the shadows. Only this time, your dear brother isn't here to hold your hand."

Cold laughter filled the cavern again as Sasuke and Sakura contemplated the image of the man who had been their true enemy all along.

"Kabuto Yakushi," Sasuke breathed.


End file.
